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Cev: Yeah, it was because I was rushing…This time, I'm gonna try to rekindle my writing style!Anyway, hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter Thirteen

He couldn't believe it. Merle had gone so far as to cutting up his shirt and slapping him on the cheek. That was the first time she had ever gotten so close as to totally going through with her threats. Next time, I'll be more careful…Van thought, holding onto the cold, wet cloth that was pressed up against his new sore.

But, it wasn't HIS fault that they changed the date. She shouldn't have killed the messenger. It's not like I have a choice…I know that she may not like it, but there's nothing I can do…

"Van, do you want me to get some gauze? I think it's bleeding." Hitomi smirked, removing the cloth to see a fine trickle of blood running down his cheek. "This is the first time she went that far, right?"

"Yeah…Really? It's bleeding? I didn't know she used her nails…" Van touched the cheek and indeed saw a stain of red on his hand. "Don't worry about getting gauze, it feels pretty small."

"Alright…" Hitomi placed the cloth in the bucket with cold water and placed it back on his cheek. "This'll keep the swelling down."

"Oh, if this thing gets any bigger…" Van tried to be intimidating again by pretending to curse Merle. "…she'll pay, I swear…" The whole charade was ruined because he laughed afterwards.

Hitomi smiled; after all, he did it once to her before. His mannerisms are still the same…Good. "Van?"

He turned to her. "Yeah?"

"Maybe you don't remember, but," Hitomi got up from the floor and sat down on her bed beside him, "you told me that you had a vision."

Oh no…What did I say? Van dissected his memory as to what he could have possibly said of the vision in question. Strangely enough, he couldn't remember a thing. If Hitomi said that I did...but when did I say it? Maybe sleep-talking? I know I haven't been intoxicated lately…

"Well, by your silence, I guess you don't remember mentioning it…" Hitomi mused. Doesn't he remember? It's not like it happened a day ago…it was barely two hours!

"Uh…um…no I don't…" Van looked away. Why can't I remember? It seemed as if the last couple of hours between their visit to Allen and his combat practice were cloudy.

How could he not? Hitomi stared at his profile. Then, it hit her. The painful truth hit. God…the way he was acting…the only way he could forget his actions would be if he wasn't there...

Green eyes opened to the fullest in realization. Hitomi didn't even notice that the room around her was getting darker.…He wasn't there…Something—
Someone
—was thinking for him…Van was…

"Hitomi?" Van looked back at her to see the she was wide-eyed. Suddenly, he got scared again. "Hitomi? Are you—? Snap out of it!" She wasn't blinking. Just staring. He shook her lightly by grabbing onto her shoulders. "Hitomi!"

Someone was thinking for him…

"Hitomi! Come on!" She was staring right at him, but Van knew she couldn't see him. She must be having a vision…Of what? "Hitomi!"

He was…he was…

The pendant began to glow again and it levitated up from Hitomi's neck. "Hitomi! Speak! Say something! Anything!"

He was… In her line of sight, everything went dark. The room was filled with dark blue and black clouds. Even her own skin colour changed to a blue hue. Her eyes could not see anything but the darkness in front of her.

Suddenly, the one with the angry blue eye was there. It appeared without warning; it just materialized out of thin air. The details on its face were illuminated from the eye. Its eyebrows were in a deep frown but its lips were curled into a smile.

Hitomi stared. She couldn't do anything else but stare at the angry thing. It moved closer to her, but its face never became any clearer. Just like in a bad movie, it moved from far away to right close to her face without moving…As if someone cut and paste its body to the different locations along its path to her.

Its hair swished around them like a dark cloud. Hitomi could feel her throat closing and her mind getting foggy. It leaned close to her ear and for the first time, Hitomi heard its voice. "You have no right to know…"
Leave

In a flash, the image of the thing disappeared along with Hitomi's train of thought and earth, as always, cracked under her feet. Even though this time, Hitomi did not even think of trying to go back up again, the bloody hands returned. She didn't even scream this time.

She knew, something told her, that no one would hear her anyway…

The girl barely felt the hands pull her. Maybe she was just falling, she didn't know. Whatever was happening, the girl understood one thing: she was falling further into the darkness…

…where it lived…

"HITOMI!"

The darkness lifted and there was Van. Hitomi blinked several times and waited until the dizzy feeling passed. Her mind was blank and continued to be silent. They both stared at each other for some time. The female having an unhealthy colour in her face and eyes. "Hitomi? Please, say something…"

For many moments, it felt as if she forgot how to speak…as if everything that she ever knew was deleted from her brain. In that moment, she didn't even know where she was or who she was. Everything she ever knew was gone. She mumbled something that didn't sound like English to Van and fell forward into his arms.

The girl's head was resting on his shoulder, her eyes cast downward...Their colour a greenish haze. Before she drifted into her fainting spell, the pendant shone brightly. The girl did not understand why…

The pendant made some of the fuzzy haze in her brain become sharper. And without warning, a single word came into her thoughts.

…possessed…

"Lord Van?" The door to the infirmary creaked open a bit and in popped Merle's furry pink hair and face. Her eyes suddenly became sad. Hitomi's still asleep…She's been like that for hours now…And he hasn't left her side…Blue eyes watched as Van's head lifted from the cot and turned to her.

"Yes Merle?" She didn't know it was possible, but depression leaked into his words.

Merle moved a bit closer, scared that any excess movement would cause the world to collapse around her. Or his world… "How is she doing?"

Van turned his head back to the cot. Hitomi was sleeping…Yes…Sleeping…She fainted and she's just sleeping…Her hair was tucked neatly behind her head but her clothes were a bit ruffled. Her whole body was motionless—
Cold
—but Van continue to reassure himself…Yes, sleeping…He had been at her side since she fainted in his room hours before.

And the entire time, the pendant was aglow.

"Her condition is the same…" He finally answered Merle's question after a long pause of silence.

"Do they know what's wrong?" The feline asked, in reference to the doctors.

Van shook his head. "It wasn't very nice when I ran into at least three of the advisors on the council on my way here…I have some explaining to do…Shit…"

Merle sat on the empty chair beside him. "Don't worry about it…Those morons won't understand anyway…"

"That's the problem…" The raven-haired man muttered as his put his head on the cot beside Hitomi's—
She won't wake up
—body.

The feline punched him in the shoulder. "Don't worry about those inbred bastards! Worry about her!" She shouted at him. "She needs your help!"

Van looked up sadly. "There's not much I can do for her but to wait…until she wakes up…"

"Van! Stop it!" Merle pleaded. "You're making me depressed! She's going to be fine! Hitomi's gotten outta weirder things before!"

"I know…She's strong…" Van looked back at Hitomi. "But the way she looked at me before she fainted…"

"What?"

"…Her eyes were so confused. As if she never knew who I was…As if she never knew where she was…Her gaze was so…so…"

"So…what?"

The appropriate word finally came to him. "…empty…Her gaze was so empty before she fainted."

Merle sulked in her chair. "Did she have, you know, another vision, do you think?" Her blue eyes were looking at the interesting tiles on the floor.

Van kept his head down. "How do you know about that?"

Merle looked at him sheepishly. "You can never keep secrets from me, Van Fanel."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I think so…" His gaze became solemn again. "I don't know what she saw to make her like this…I don't think I want to know.."

"Why is the pendant glowing?"

Van remained silent, and held Hitomi's hand, rubbing it gently. Come on…Come on, Hitomi…You can make it…All the while, he was fixated on the pendant's glow. "I don't know…"

Merle sat with him, occasionally making conversation with him when the silence was too thick. They sat and sat and waited and waited. The feline watched Van. His dark eyes were brightened slightly from the pendant and were cast on Hitomi's body. He did not move at all. His whole body stiffened whenever he thought that Hitomi's chest was not going to rise after it fell.

And Merle noticed this. He thinks she's going to die…Merle almost cried, but realized that Van needed her to be strong too. Although she had no proof, his mannerisms towards Hitomi's sleeping form made her make conclusions. He left too many things unsaid, and now he wishes that he didn't! Oh, Van! Hitomi WILL wake up to hear what you have to say!

Silence, their good friend, followed them into the infirmary. Once the room was cast in the glow of the moon and two candles, Van spoke suddenly. The sound made Merle almost jump out of her seat in which she had almost fallen asleep on.

"Something's gonna happen Merle…We don't know what, yet…" He paused. "Both of us are having dreams; dreams about…blood. Hitomi says that there is someone, some higher power that's calling the shots. She's seen her in her dreams, but I haven't. Today, I can barely remember anything that happened after we came back from Allen's castle…

"We're both having weird visions about darkness and falling and death. Both of us are trying, but we don't know what's going to happen. I think whoever is in charge is putting Hitomi through this, Merle. Whoever is making her see these things is out to get her."

"What does it want?" Merle asked, soaking all the information up.

"We don't know and that's the problem!" He growled, sinking his head further into the cot where Hitomi was sleeping. "I think that it wants Hitomi gone because she has the ability to see these things…"

Merle looked up from her chair. "But, Lord Van…If you claim you are having visions too, why isn't that thing after you too?"

Van's head shot up in realization. She's right…That thing should be after me too…Looking back down at the pendant, the king realized something else. Maybe only Hitomi is going through this because she's in the way…

…since I am what the thing really wants…

Sunlight streamed in to illuminate the room. It highlighted the frames of the two people sleeping. Van refused to sleep and it showed. His eyes were visibly tired and rimmed with bags.

Hitomi, however, continued to sleep throughout the night. Merle had drifted off a little bit after their conversation of what exactly was going on. He had lied her down on an empty cot and tucked her in, returning to Hitomi's side afterwards.

Van took in the beauty that he saw when the sun hit Hitomi's face at the right spot. He smiled lightly. So beautiful…But then, Van looked at her face curiously. There's something missing…

That's when he realized that the pendant stopped glowing. Its pink light that had been glowing on her features was gone. In an instant, he panicked. Oh gods! What's going on? He watched her intensely with wide eyes to see that she was stirring in her sleep. Her eyelids were fluttering and for the first time, she moved onto her side.

Van was speechless. It was as if whatever had made Hitomi immobile was gone. She was okay. She was no longer under any spell…The pendant must have been the savior. Now, she's really sleeping…Unlike before, Hitomi's body movement appeared more sleep-like, with her eyes moving under her eyelids and her ability to move around.

Before, it was as if she was…
Her blood
No! Stop it! She's fine. She's okay! Hitomi made it! Although he didn't want to wake the sleeping beauty, he had to be sure, "Hitomi?" He shook her lightly.

Hitomi groaned. "Mmph…" She twitched under his hand.

"Come on, wake up!" Van chuckled and shook a bit harder. "Mmph…Stop it…" Hitomi mumbled, trying to move away from the offending hand. "I don't have to go to school today…"

He played along. "Yes you do…And you're going to be late…It starts in ten minutes…" And at that statement, her eyes opened quickly and she sat upright on the cot. "God! Why didn't you wake me up--?" Hitomi paused, realizing that she was still in Gaea. "Huh?"

Van smiled. "You're okay…Hitomi…" He got up from the chair that he had been sitting in all night and joined her on the cot. In an instant, he had his arms around her. "You're okay…Gods, she's okay…" I've never been this scared in my life.

Hitomi looked at him. "What are you doing, Van?" She looked at him quizzically. "What are we doing in this room? Where are we, anyway--?" Before she could finish, Van pulled her closer to him and kissed her, not letting her say another word.

He cupped her face in his hands to hold her in that position. Getting bolder and letting his emotions out of control, he opened his mouth, which consequently opened hers too, and slipped his tongue inside. It felt like nothing he had ever felt before. Nothing could describe the feeling…It was almost surreal.

Finally, the call of oxygen came back and Van was forced to pull away. Almost panting, they looked at each other, noticing one another's flushed faces and lips. "Van…" Hitomi whispered. "What was that for?"

"I thought I was going to lose you…" He mumbled back.

"Why?"

He furrowed his gaze. "What?"

Worry came into her green eyes. "Why did you think that you were going to lose me?"

"I—Don't you—You fainted and—How could you not remember?" Van stuttered, not believing that she didn't know. How could she not know?

Hitomi looked at him strangely. "I don't understand…"

Dark eyes met green. "What DO you remember?"

She looked around thoughtfully, in deep concentration. "Well, since I got here, I remember meeting Allen and Millerna and Yuki…I remember you and Merle…"

"Okay…What about visions?" Van asked, realizing that she at least knew where she was and who she knew and how she got here. He questioned her about the visions apprehensively.

"What?"

"What do you mean, 'What'?" Van's face was covered with worry.

"What visions?" Hitomi blinked several times, searching her mind for any traces of visions. She knew about the ones she had the first time she came here…But nothing came to her that was recent. "Van, what's wrong?" She noticed his face was filled with concern.

Oh gods…someone has wiped her memory clean of them…Oh no…Whatever thing she saw before this incident made her forget…God no… "Hitomi, please, try and remember…"

"No…I don't know what visions you are talking about…" She repeated, growing more worried than he. "Am I supposed to have them? Why? What's going on? Van! Please! Tell me!"

Van's heart was racing. Oh gods…She doesn't know anything…She's forgotten everything about our plan to save my planet… Hitomi had begun to cry softly. "Van! Please! Why can't I remember? What's going on?" He had lost his voice and instead, pulled her into another hug.

She felt strangely alien in his arms, but comforted too. Hitomi continued to cry out of frustration. Why don't I remember? What is going on? God, something's happening…How can it be that Van remembers and I don't? It doesn't make sense…Hitomi tried again to search her memory for something, anything, that could be or be related to a vision.

But found nothing…
Empty
Oh God, please…Something's very very wrong…

"Your majesty! How could you do this to your bride! This is an adulterous act!" One of Van's advisors scolded.

"I was not—!" Van started to say, anger rising, but bit his tongue and calmed down. "I did not dishonour anyone. We have done nothing but enjoy one another's company."

"Lord Van, I do not think you see the seriousness of this situation!"

Van's control was about to snap. He held it. "We are nothing but acquaintances…" Van lied through his teeth. If anything, he'd rather be marrying Hitomi, and he knew it.

"But why is she here? When did she arrive?"

"She arrived with me when you inbred bastards were away making plans to make a wedding that I had no idea about…" Van smiled, using that word that Merle used to describe them.

The advisors looked from one person to another. "You have relations with her?" Mamoru asked.

"Nothing but friendship since the day you told me about the wedding." Van growled.

"Where is she from?"

He was so close to blurting out that Hitomi was from the Mystic Moon, but knew that that piece of information would keep him here until tomorrow. "She's from a magical palace from far, far away…" He muttered, jokingly.

"The people of Fanelia will not be amused to see their king hanging around simple people…She does not have the attire of real nobility, my lord."

Van shrugged and proceeded to get up. "Well, frankly, I don't care about what ANY of you have to say. So, you can just continue to talk amongst yourselves because I'm leaving…That's all you seem to do, isn't it?" He turned and headed to the door.

"Your majesty! Please!" His favourite advisor, Haru, stopped him before leaving. His old, kind eyes looked at him. "Tell us who this strange woman is…We can be of assistance…"

Van scoffed. "Yeah, right. Real helpful…You guys have solved all my problems before, haven't you?" He pushed past him and exited quickly. Well, that didn't go well...One hour of shouting…Jeeze…

I wonder how little Hitomi is coping with the loss of her precious visions…Shina smiled as she left her room to find hers. Now, they are back to square one. With Van under me and Hitomi unable to remember, I'm at the advantage.

Shina walked swiftly, trying to not make much noise. Once Van can not resist me anymore, I will succeed in destroying this planet…

…Just like I always do…

And her pendant glowed.

The king walked around the castle for some time, just watching the scenery of the doors and walls pass him. Finally, he returned to the guest chambers to see that Hitomi's door was open.

And that Shina was standing outside it. "HEY!" Van shouted at her, fear for Hitomi coming through.

Something told him to get Shina as far away from Hitomi as possible.

The princess turned around, focusing her eyes on him. With quick paces, they met in the middle. "Who is she?" She demanded.

"None of your business…" Van glared.

"Excuse me? I think, as your wife, that it IS my business! Holding other woman under your care…Is that where you go after dinner, hmm? To her?"

"Get out of my way…" He tried to push past her, but she blocked him. "No." She stood defiantly. "Not until you tell me who she is and why you are always around her."

Van tilted his head, smiling. "Now, why would I tell you that?"

"Because I have a right to know what other women you hang around with! I am your wife!"

Van shook his head. "No…not yet."

Shina, uncharacteristically, frowned at him. She grabbed onto his arm.
Cold
"Tell me."

He pushed her hand away, still feeling her cold touch lingering on his arm, freezing it. "You have no right to know."

And the creature smiled.

Finally, Van moved away from her and left her alone as he entered Hitomi's room again to check on her. Merle was keeping her company and trying to help her remember the visions.

As he entered, Merle looked up and shook her head, knowing what his question would be. "Nothing yet…She can't remember…"

"No…What did Shina say?" Van asked.

"Nothing…She was about to come through the door when you came. I was this close," Merle held up two fingers with a narrow margin in between them, "to clawing her eyes out."

He sat next to a distraught Hitomi. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess…" She muttered. "I can't remember, Van…" Her lips quivered when she added that last statement. "I'm sorry! I can't! Not even the pendant can help…"

"It's okay…You told me most of them…" Van said. "I'll tell them to you…"

"If I get any more, I'm going to write them down…I swear, all of them to every detail…Then, I can't forget!" Hitomi, fueled with new optimism, looked up at Van and smiled.

"See, Hitomi? It'll be okay!" Merle smiled with her, holing her hands. "Uh…Van, are you gonna stay here? I have to use the washroom…"

"Yeah, go ahead…I told you that we'd take turns…" As Merle exited, Hitomi's smile dropped. "Hitomi?"

"There was something about that woman…Shina is her name, right?...I don't like the feeling I get from her…" She mumbled, just so he could hear.

Van, noticing that his cold arm had not warmed up yet, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, me neither…"

"Do you think that she's…?" She let her sentence trail off and waited for Van to answer.

But he remained quiet.

Something was not letting him give a response.

And suddenly, when Hitomi looked in his eyes, it looked so…so…
Cold
Something's in his eyes…
Empty

0.o Wow…That was one WEIRD chapter…Didn't turn out like I wanted it to…

Well, not much to say here. Hope you enjoyed it…

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