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Chapter Twenty EightEven though Van had 'awoken', he still did not understand what was going on until the next day. The doctors had explained everything to him close to his ear so he would be sure to hear it. They had went through with him what his injuries were: broken jaw and ankle, dislocated right shoulder, three cracked ribs, a deep cut on the top of his head, two broken fingers and thirteen other gashes that needed stitches.
There was the worry of infection of the larger wounds…
But the only injury that they truly were concerned about was his eye.
They had told him that they had seen some damage done to the cornea and that they tried hard to repair it, but they did not know if they had fixed it enough to ensure proper vision in the left eye. The bandages were wrapped around both of his eyes because using the one good eye would cause the injured eye to move as well. That eye had to be kept as still as possible so that the stitches could heal.
On the first few attempts of waking him, Van had tightly squeezed his eyes shut in pain, disrupting the stitches and the doctors had to redo them. Now that he was aware of it, he promised with a nod of his head to not squint or open his eyes again.
Even if Shina told him too.
The doctors had ushered Hitomi aside and told her that even though Lord Van was awake, there was still a chance that he would die. He had lost a lot of blood and Hitomi figured that although Gaea had its own share of advanced medical practices—like Intravenous—they did not know about blood transfusions or blood types yet. All they could do was wait and see if he could build up his own strength again with the help of other medicines.
So there she was, sitting by his bed again, holding his left hand with both of hers. Van could not speak to her, or see her to acknowledge her presence, but she could tell that he knew she was there. The apparatus holding his jaw together would be coming off later that day but for now, Van was forced into silence. She watched the steady stream of IV fluid go into his arm to feed him and she opened against odds that Van was getting stronger.
He looked pale and weak from the absence of blood…His bones stuck out too much because he could not eat anything…His breathing was laboured and any movement from his body ended up shaky…And his hand was very cold.
No matter how hard she tried to squeeze it, or how many times she rubbed it, it remained cold.
Hitomi sighed. It had been a long day in the silence. She was curious as to how Van was working with no sight or communication, but she was also scared. He might not be able to see out of his left eye at the end of all this…If everything else goes right, he could still lose something…Oh…Van…
She looked at his bandaged face and all the swelling. The gash on his skull forced the doctors to repair the split skin with what looked like medical staples; most of his head was wrapped in bandages. His cheek was puffy, his shoulder swollen and his ankle still slightly twisted even in the cast. He might have a limp too…
There was a knock on the door. Hitomi jumped at the sudden noise and almost cried out in surprise. Matsushita walked in. "Milady? It's time to go back to your room now."
Looking at Van once more, Hitomi stood up by herself and started to walk back to the entrance. But, she was pulled back by a yank on her arm.
Van had reached out and grabbed onto her with his left hand. His whole body shook from that movement, but he held on. He turned his neck towards her and tiredly tried to pull her back into her seat. "Your majesty, she needs to go." Matsushita called from the door.
Instead of letting go, Van felt along Hitomi's arm until his met with her hand. Forcing it open, with her palm facing him, he began to spell out symbols into it. Hitomi looked on, slightly puzzled but tried to understand what he was trying to say. It's their sign language… After six symbols, she realized that he was repeating the message, but she still could not understand. She could only guess what the symbols where and when she tried to string together a phrase with her guess, it didn't make sense. What do they mean? "Matsushita! Come quick! What is he saying?"
Van continued to press the symbols harder into her palm, trying to make her understand but it wasn't until Matsushita came that Hitomi got the message. "My dear, that is a military tactic. When soldiers are in enemy territory and they cannot speak for fear of being detected, they speak in symbols. A sign language. It's different for each country…"
"Yes…Do you know it?"
"Well, I do know Togane's sign language…but I think these two are similar. Okay, Lord Van. Start the message again."
He snorted from impatience but he started again, making each symbol stay on Hitomi's hand for a few seconds. When he was finished, he turned his neck back to where it was before, tired. His left arm flopped limply to his side in exhaustion.
Hitomi waited, and Matsushita finally cracked it. "I think he wrote, 'Don't go.'" She sighed. "Your majesty, she will be back. She needs to rest too."
Van did not make any indication that he was listening. "Besides, your doctors are going to remove that jaw-holder you have there so you can talk. She can't be in the room for that." Slowly turning, Matsushita led Hitomi outside Van's room. With one last look at him, Hitomi saw that he was just the same as she came in.
And that worried her.
The only movement he had done since she was in that room was just a few minutes ago. The way he had grabbed her arm…He wanted her to stay so badly; but why? He knew that she would be returning tomorrow, as soon as the doctors would let her. She did so yesterday…It was as if his life depended on it…
Hitomi vowed to never use that phrase again.
Looking out the window at the end of the hall, Hitomi commented on how dark it had become. "I never knew it was that late."
"That is why you must sleep. You've been in that room all day today AND yesterday. Your friend, Merle, was asking for you."
Oh no…Hitomi had forgotten that she was supposed to visit Merle again. She's going to make a big fuss about it…Oh, well… "Can I go check on her?"
The nurse shook her head. "Too late, I'm afraid. Merle gets cranky when she doesn't sleep for nine hours." Walking slowly on wobbly legs, Hitomi made it to her room again. She was glad that she didn't have to use the wheelchair anymore; they weren't given her any strong medicine for pain and such, so she could walk around again. She wasn't entirely used to it, but she was getting there. Slowly, but surely.
She lay down on her cot, stomach up, and folded her arms carefully across her chest. Her cast remained but the thick bandages were off; now, only a comfortable wrap was used to protect the wounds she had. Shina's nails had dug almost all the way through her arms. But the doctors had repaired her arms and now, all she had were weird stitches to show. She too had lost blood, but she had rebuilt her strength; Hitomi questioned the pendant.
"Good night." Matsushita called out, before blowing out a few of the candles and turning down some of the oil lanterns. She went to another place in the room, to tend to another man who had woken up, asking for something.
Hitomi shut her eyes and waited to sleep to come, but all she could think about was everyone in the hospital.
And how everyone still had a chance of death. How everyone was so close of falling asleep and never waking up again.
Including her.
Hitomi found herself in his room again. She was sitting down on the chair beside him, like she always did, but the room was completely dark, only letting in enough light to let her see Van easily. There was also something else in the background too…A huge shadow of a beast that she was familiar with. Escaflowne…
She noticed that it too shared Van's physical aliments; its metal ankle was twisted awkwardly…Its giant right arm was hanging by a few metal tubes from its socket…The cockpit, where Van would sit and see outside, was smashed in on the left side…They're exactly the same…Hitomi was staring at Escaflowne for the longest time, waiting.
She was seeing a replay of when Van and Shina had started battling before she arrived in Escaflowne's shadow. Hitomi watched Shina take control of the fight and give Van many of his injuries and noticed that at the same second Van dislocated his shoulder, Escaflowne did too. They're still connected…After all these years…
It was when white feathers began to fall into her line of vision that she looked back at Van. Instead of sleeping as he usually did, he was changing. W—What?
His skin began to peel away. It was pulled tightly, stretching, until it ripped to expose his internal muscles. Those also began to rot and deteriorate along with his organs. And Hitomi keep watching, horror-struck, unable to make a sound. It had been so gruesome, but she could not look away as his metamorphosis occurred.
Amongst everything that she was seeing, Hitomi strangely noted that there was no blood. Van was not bleeding at all. His physical body was just…disappearing.
However, Escaflowne had stayed the same. None of its outer-shell disappeared. Why isn't it the same now? What is going on? Blood pumped loudly in her ears. Oh…Oh, God!
Van continued to peel away, leaving only his skeleton with pieces of his decayed flesh on parts of his bones. She had finally snapped out of her staring and tried to run away from him. She didn't want to watch it anymore…She couldn't take it…She didn't want to stand there and watch him die.
Leave
Before she could look away, before she could scream out, she felt a bony hand wrap tightly around her wrist in a vice-like grip.
Cold
She couldn't pull loose from Van's bones. She struggled against him, tugging frantically, but his skeleton held on and stared to rise in his cot. She had looked up to stare at his empty sockets…
There were two dark pink lights glowing in the centre of them. Her eyes were wide with fear and anxiety. The pendant!…But, why?
Slowly, she watched Van's other hand—the arm was still dislocated from its socket, only attached by a few stray ligaments—and it began to spell out symbols, each bone in the fingers creaking and cracking after every letter he showed her.
She recognized what he was spelling.
'Don't go.'
You belong on Gaea
And even though it was just his skeleton, she thought he was smiling at her.
Escaflowne stood grimly in the background, watching both of them. No! No! Van! Let me go! Please! The room begin to spin around her. Oh no…She got dizzy. She felt the ground crumbled under her feet.
The grip tightened. He doesn't want me to fall…?
Suddenly, as Hitomi averted her eyes towards his mechanical dragon again, it collapsed into its parts. As if whatever glue had been holding it together as Van changed, had finally broke and let the beast fall into a heap of scrap metal. What? No! Escaflowne! Why did it collapse now? What will happen to Van—?
Then, Van's skeleton did the same. All his bones disconnected from one another and fell into a heap as well. Her heart pumped wildly and louder. Oh God…VAN! Although the skeletal hand was still attached to her wrist, there was nothing left to keep her from dropping into the darkness again.
She fell. But she did not make a sound.
And there was no angel to save her
She awoke with a cold sweat, gasping for air. Es—Escaflowne…
They had agreed with Kiyoshi to let Merle out of her room for half an hour; the only catch was that he had to come with them. Although Merle had complained, Kiyoshi would not let up and finally, they had left Merle's room…all three of them.
"I want to go see Lord Van." Merle chided from her seat in the wheelchair. Kiyoshi pushed her along, with a smirk on his face. Although Hitomi kept quiet, after last night's vision, she did not want to step into that room again. What if he falls apart…?
"What makes you think he'll want to see you?"
Merle turned around in her seat. "You can cram it up your as—!"
"Merle!" Hitomi scolded.
"Why do you yell at me? He's the one that said the insult!"
"Two wrongs don't make a right."
"Yeah, Merle." Kiyoshi added. "But hey, three rights make a left. Which reminds me, to get to Lord Van's room we have to make a left over here…"
Turning, the three of them only had to walk a few more minutes before they got to Van's room. As Hitomi opened the door slowly, Merle peered in, saddened at what she saw. "Oh…Van…" She mumbled quietly. He looks so sick…
Van's head turned towards the door, hearing it open. "W—Who's there?" His voice cracked; it seemed weird to hear his own voice again. He reached out an arm and moved it around, hoping to hit whoever had walked in to get identification. It didn't last long; his arm soon tired out. "W—Who's th—there?" His voice failed him soon too. Why can't I…? E—Everything tires me…
"Van…It's me, Hitomi…and—"
"—and Merle!" The feline happily interjected, hiding all trace of sadness in her voice. "Lord Van! I'm so happy to see you!"
"What's this? Don't I get an introduction?" Kiyoshi mumbled.
Putting a finger to her lips, Merle hushed him. "Bring me to his bed." Without another word, her nurse pushed her there and she immediately grabbed his left hand with her furry paws. "See, Lord Van? It's me!"
Van felt her fur on his fingertips. Merle… It felt different than how he remembered…and it was much shorter and coarser. "Y—Your fur…" He mumbled tiredly. "D—Doesn't…feel…" Van couldn't continue speaking and instead used the sign language he was taught in front of her eyes. Quickly, he made his fingers say what his mouth was too tired to say, 'the same.' They shook after every symbol.
"Oh! That's because it's growing in again." Merle answered quickly, not wanting to go into the subject and make Van more depressed.
Hitomi noticed how white Van's skin looked and how dry and cracked it was. Had he gotten any better? The doctors had said that the healing process for his shoulder, ankle and other gashes were taking longer than expected…a lot longer than expected. She knew that the doctors were trying hard with different medicines, but she knew that if he was on Earth, he would be fine…he would have all the blood he needed…and the only thing he would worry about was his eye.
But then again…on Earth, Escaflowne would be too far away to repair.
It hurt her to watch him struggle to take in a breath. I have to act now…There's only so much the doctors can do without repairing his guymelf.
Van tried to smile as Merle continued to rant about Kiyoshi and what a mean nurse he was. He tried…but he was too tired and not in a smiling mood. He didn't like being in the dark. He didn't like the fact that each one of his friends was in here because of him. He didn't like the fact that he was not near Escaflowne.
His mouth opened and closed slowly, trying to speak, but there wasn't enough energy there. Using his arm again, he signed to Merle. 'Don't be so hard on him.'
"See? I told you." Another voice chided; Van figured it was Kiyoshi.
"SHHH! I don't care what you think!" Merle hissed over to him. "Oh, Van…If only you KNEW what a rotten guy he is."
Van's lips finally curved into a smile. 'Isn't he standing in the room?' He signed again. He was getting fatigued, but he pushed it.
"Yeah…and who cares? He doesn't have feelings or anything…" Merle frowned.
"Merle!" Hitomi scolded again, speaking for the first time since she arrived. "That wasn't very nice."
"Yeah. That really hurt." Van heard Kiyoshi laugh a bit afterwards. He smirked again. Merle has not changed…But Hitomi's silence since she had first come into the room troubled him. Hitomi…what are you th—thinking? Gathering up his strength and breathing in as deeply as he could, he raised his arm in what he hoped was her direction and waved her over. "Hi…Hitomi…"
Her head snapped to attention and suddenly all eyes were on her. Slowly, Hitomi walked over towards him and sat down on the chair. The noise it made as it scratched the floor was the only sound. "Yes Van?"
"What are you thinking?" Van forced the words to come out as clearly as he could and that one sentence was by far the best one he had spoken. But his jaw hurt a bit afterwards. He quickly signed to Hitomi.
Merle noticed and translated for her. "He asked, 'Why are you so quiet?' I mean, come on Hitomi! The man may be temporarily blind, but can still hear! I mean, seriously. Did you know that when one sense is unable to function, the other senses are heightened? So—"
"—Oh Merle, we know…relax."
"Was I talking to you, Kiyoshi?"
She smiled a bit, but her answer was too simple to really cover what she wanted to say. "I'm just thinking, Van…That's all." Hitomi was thinking of a lot of things. She worried for him and she knew that there was one way to make it better.
He was unsatisfied with her answer. Even though he couldn't see it, he could tell that she was not telling him the entire truth. The tension hung in the air; he didn't have to see the room or their expressions…he could feel it.That tension was always there when people visited him. You sh—should not keep things from me…I know you worry…"About what?" His voice strained and his words mumbled, but it was still clear.
Hitomi took a deep breath in. "About Escaflowne."
Everyone in the room stopped. Even Kiyoshi, who was very clueless at this point, stopped. Van could feel it again. There was something in the air. Hitomi knows something…
Luckily, Merle asked his question. "What about Escaflowne?"
"I have to go back to Fanelia." Hitomi blurted, somewhat changing topics. Immediately, she wished that she hadn't said it. She knew it would be hard, but she had to go…before Van crumbles in front of her.
"What? Why?" Kiyoshi interjected. "It's just a barren waste—Oomph!" Merle had sharply elbowed him in the ribs, telling him not to say another word. It would kill Lord Van to hear that now…
"I have to."
"Hitomi, why?" Merle repeated. "It's still dangerous!" Wait…Escaflowne… "Hitomi, you can't do that." The cat had caught on to the plan that Hitomi had and voiced her opinion about it.
"I never said that I can do it. I said that I have to do it." Hitomi mumbled back.
Before another word could be said, the door swung open. An elderly male nurse, with the head of a lion, stepped in, and looked at the three guests. "I believe that visiting hours will be cut short for lunch. Are you hungry, your majesty?"
"No." Came the curt reply.
"Well, if you don't want food, I'll be doing some of your exercises. Now, ladies…gentleman…If you'd be so kind as to exit…" The nurse continued, shooing them out of the room.
The door shut behind them and all three were outside again. "Hitomi…" Merle began after a brief silence.
"I have to go. I will find a way there."
"You are not discharged from the hospital yet, you can't—"
"—I will find a way." Hitomi kept her head down and kept her voice just above a whisper. "It's the only way Van will get better. I know it. And so do you, Merle."
Kiyoshi looked down at Merle expectantly and she nodded. "So, what do we do?"
"If you want to help, you'll keep quiet about this, Kiyoshi." Hitomi gave him a hard glance from under her bangs. "I need a source of transportation. Any ideas?"
"You're serious about this?" Merle spoke quietly, looking up at her from her wheelchair, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Are you sure that it'll work? How do you know that Escaflowne needs to be fixed up? How—?"
Hitomi smiled a little. "I had a dream about it last night. And you know better than anyone that my dreams have never been wrong."
Wow.
Just so you know, that last bit about Escaflowne and such came to me a few days ago and I figured that it'd be an interesting way to get everything back in order. Instead of Van getting a miracle recovery, I wanted to tie in Escaflowne itself into the mix because, hell, the title's called "Escaflowne II" for a reason!
It was very spontaneous and it has just added another chapter to the ending.
Anyway, sorry for the delay. I went to driving school (25 hours in a stuffy classroom) and right after that I had to go to work. So, I was basically dead tired when I got back home and I couldn't write for four days (that's how long it went on for). Well, that did slow me down, but I don't think that I have anything else planned to get in the way of writing.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. A tad of a filler, but…next chapter will be good…I hope.
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PS. I am getting a scholarship! It's not the one that I initially wanted, but, hey, it's a scholarship nonetheless, right:D