Chaaaaapptteeer… three! I'm writing as fast as possible. Then again, I'm also taking advantage of being home sick. Moving on…
"Eternity Dragons"
Chapter Three - Departure
"So…" Kei grinned mischievously, swinging the chain on her finger. "You said you needed my help?"
"Urgently." Hitomi nodded, glancing briefly at the swinging pendant, a thought in the back of her head registering that it was keeping perfect time. Memories would have flooded in, reminding her of what happened three months ago, but she didn't have time for that now.
"See, the other day, you saw me throwing away my tarot cards. I had a vision the night before, you see. Of Van. And he was hurt. The next morning, the cards gave me a reading and I overreacted… a little…"
Kei grinned slightly at her words before looking quizzical as she caught the swinging chain and held the necklace in her hand. "Well, what did the cards say?"
"Well… there was the death card. The tower, the ace of serpents… and it seemed to be reading Van's fate… what's wrong?"
The raven-haired girl suddenly looked startled. "All those three?"
"Yes… then the hanged man. Why?"
"Whenever I do a reading on myself… find out where my parents went… I always get those cards. Hitomi, I think you might have accidentally done a tarot reading on me."
The teen girl gasped. "But… what does it mean, then?"
Hitomi's mind was racing. If the reading was for Kei… there was still hope for Van! Maybe he wasn't dead. But then… what did the cards say for her newfound friend?
"I…" Kei looked away, looking grave. "I don't know. I don't understand it."
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room and Harakei found it unsettling. She quickly decided to change the subject. "Anyway... you were saying?"
"Eh... yes…" Hitomi continued, blurting out the rest of the words in her urgency. "You know what happened then. But the point is, I think something happened to Van and Merle. See, your pendant is just like mine and I think it came from Atlantis as well, so I wanted to know if I could use it to get back to Gaea."
Kei ran Hitomi's story over in her head for a moment, staring down at the pendant in the palm of her hand. "You're sure this is it?"
"I don't know. But I have to try… er, can I see it?"
Kei silently handed over the pendant to her schoolmate, who then held it up by the chain, closing her eyes and concentrating. Concentrate on what? She kept still, grappling for a thought when something slid in automatically, as it had in Gaea.
A hanging pendant. With nothing to think about, she simply concentrated on that. Concentrate….. concentrate….. there!
The pendant swung left, towards the door where, as if reacting to the words in Hitomi's head, a little girl unexpectedly burst through, startling the two girls. Kei sat up from her position of staring intently at Hitomi, who lowered her arm quickly to hide the pendant.
"KEEEIIII! LUNCH'S READY!"
A little girl with long, dirty blond hair stood in the doorway, screaming in an annoying voice. She blinked her bright green eyes, as if coming out of a daze when she noticed Hitomi.
"Who's that?"
Kei sighed. "Yuki, this is Hitomi. She's a friend from school. Hitomi, this is Yuki." She frowned in annoyance. "My little sister."
Hitomi nodded, smiling kindly. "Hey, Yuki."
Kei's little sister grinned widely. "Hi. Don't mind Kei there, she can be a little annoying at times." With a very obvious wink, she turned and skipped away, leaving the door open.
The older sister rolled her eyes. "My little sister, Hiroyuki. She's only ten and already has a superiority complex."
Hitomi giggled softly. "She's no better than Merle, Kei."
Merle. Yuki's interference had distracted her for a moment from the problem in Gaea. And something else.
There was a sudden knot in her stomach from excitement. The pendant! She had been right! It worked. But before Hitomi could celebrate, Kei interrupted her.
"Do you want to stay for lunch?" She smiled slightly, looking nervous.
Hitomi was jerked from her thoughts. "Lunch?" She hesitated. Did she really have time for this? Not when she had just achieved her goal. As if in protest, her stomach, already knotted, growled. Breakfast had been ages ago, after all….
"I would gladly stay, thank you." She nodded politely.
Kei looked relieved. "Great, let's go." She stood, leading the way out but pausing a second so they could walk together. "Before Hiroyuki came in… what were you doing?"
"I was testing the pendant." She uncurled her fist where she had, without noticing, been holding the necklace tightly. "It works, Kei."
Kei's eyes widened with surprise and thrill as they reached the stairs and began their descent. As soon as they did, she lowered her voice, grinning. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." Hitomi couldn't help but grin herself. Kei's happiness was addictive.
They didn't have time to talk about it once they entered the dining room, where Yuki and an older version of the blond sat. Hitomi assumed this was Kei's mother, and she was right. The older woman looked up and smiled and Kei took her seat, motioning for Hitomi to sit next to her.
"Mom, this is Hitomi Kanzaki. She's a friend from school and she also lives next door."
As Hitomi looked at the older blond, she noticed how Kei didn't look at all like her mother. She recalled Kei mentioning how she was adopted then and dropped the subject from her mind.
Hitomi nodded. "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Hamano."
Kei's mother continued to smile. "It's a pleasure, Hitomi. So, Kei, what were you two doing up there?"
"Oh, y'know... homework…" She shrugged casually, starting to pile rice onto her plate, and then passing the bowl to Hitomi. "Oh, by the way… Mom, can Hitomi sleep over tonight?"
Hitomi looked up sharply from her food, trying not to look surprised by the question. She had already been awaiting nervously Kei's answers to her mother's questions. Grateful that she had said nothing about the pendant or Gaea, this offer was startling nevertheless.
"Oh…" Mrs. Hamano looked to each girl. "I wouldn't mind, as long as it's ok with Hitomi's parents."
Hitomi caught Kei's meaningful look and smiled quickly, nodding. "Yeah, they don't mind. Thank you for letting me stay, Mrs. Hamano."
The older woman, pleased with Hitomi's manners, smiled in a motherly way. "My pleasure, Hitomi."
"So how do you know that it's real?"
The two girls were back in Kei's room, full of rice and noodles.
"It works like it did with my old one. I imagined the pendant in my head… and it swung in the direction of Yuki a second before she came in. It works, alright."
Kei shifted uncomfortably, glancing up at her from her laptop. "And what now?"
Now it was Hitomi's turn to look uneasy. "Well…. I was hoping you would let me borrow it, Kei. So I could go back to Gaea. I'd bring it back as soon as I could, I promise!" Her voice became pleading.
"What!" Kei looked up sharply, surprised and looking slightly irritated.
It didn't take long in those few seconds for Hitomi's head to supply self-doubt and discouragement. I knew it. She wouldn't want me to give it to her. Yukari was right.
"You're not going without me."
"Huh!" Hitomi lifted her eyes, shocked. Maybe she hadn't heard right. "You're what?"
"I said… you're not going without me." A strange glint in her grey eyes told Hitomi that Kei was not going back on her words.
"I… Kei…" The brunette struggled for words to discourage her, but then again… why not? It was her pendant, after all…
"Are you sure?" She asked weakly, not knowing what else to say.
"Are you kidding?" She shut her laptop, grinning and standing. "Of course I am. Look." She pointed at a bookshelf, full with books of fantasy and science fiction.
"This is almost like my dream. I mean…" She pulled out a messenger bag, stuffing in her laptop. "… I have to come."
Hitomi watched her, biting her lip. She didn't see why, really.
"Alright, Kei."
Her friend stopped dead, looking startled despite her previous stubborn attitude of going whether Hitomi liked it or not.
"Seriously?"
She grinned feebly. "Really."
Before Hitomi knew what happened, Kei was hugging her and chanting thank you over and over, then she pulled away, her attitude becoming serious.
"Are we going tonight, then?"
Good question… when are we going? I still have to pack…
"Tonight? I guess…That's why you said I was sleeping over tonight?"
"Yeah." She nodded quickly, grabbing a katana off her wall. "So do you want to go pack?"
She laughed softly. "I would, but I don't really know what."
"Well..." Kei stopped in the middle of storming around her room, a change of clothes in her hand. "You said you took your gym bag with you last time. Start there, I guess. Take everything you used from there. Plus, since you have time to actually take some things and we're not in a hurry…" She shrugged, stuffing the clothes into her bag.
"You're right." Hitomi stood slowly, and then looked down at the pendant she was still holding. Strange, she thought she had put it down… then again, with this being her only connection to Gaea, it wasn't surprising that she didn't want to let go. "Can I take this with me?
"That? Yeah…" The grey-eyed girl didn't even look up as she scoured her closet. With an amused shake of her head, Hitomi followed the same path through the house out the backdoor to her house. With each step… she got closer to Van and Gaea.
"I'm coming, Van. Just hold on."
In barely over an hour, Hitomi was back, clutching her duffel bag and looking as if she'd just run the marathon. Kei was back on her bed, typing away at her laptop. "Hey, Hitomi…"
"H… h... hey, Kei." She sat down on the floor, taking deep breaths.
Kei blinked blankly. "You didn't have to sprint… anyway, what're you bringing?"
"Uh…" She seemed to regain her breath and glanced at the duffel. "Clothes, food. I honestly couldn't think of anything. Oh, and my track stuff."
The black-haired girl blinked once more. "Track stuff? Why?"
"It helped last time… when I needed to take my mind off things."
"Good idea." Kei proceeded to pack her track things as well into her surprisingly not full messenger bag.
Hitomi looked at it. "What are you taking?"
"Track stuff." She grinned, joking, then continued. "A spare set of clothes, my laptop tarot cards… and my katana." She pointed to the sheathed sword beside the bag.
"A weapon? I don't think you'll need it…" Hitomi's eyes widened, but Kei shook her head.
"From what I've heard, it's dangerous to be in Gaea defenseless. I'll be sort of like your body guard."
The two girls laughed softly, feeling suddenly more like friends then they had before.
Hitomi abruptly stopped laughing and lowered her eyes. "Kei, I just want to say… thank you."
"For what?"
"For coming with me. For giving me another chance to go back to Gaea."
Kei chuckled quietly, standing. "Don't mention it. Now, to get down to business… oh, wait, it's not dark yet."
Indeed, it was only mid afternoon. Hitomi followed Kei's gaze as they looked out the window, then they looked at each other. "We can still go… it'll probably cause less attention, in fact, since it's still light out…"
Kei nodded firmly, preparing herself for what was to come. "Alright… then let's go."
The two schoolgirls silently left the room, heading outside with growing feelings of apprehension and excitement. Neither knew exactly what to feel.
They didn't see Mrs. Hamano or Yuki while they went through the house. "They've gone shopping…" Kei said softly, a feeling of loss already filling in. She would miss them, she knew.
Once outside, Kei and Hitomi stood facing each other on the Hamano patio. The latter already had the pendant around her neck and she raised a hand to hold onto the pale pink ornament. "Ready?"
Kei nodded firmly. "Ready."
Hitomi unclasped the necklace and held it out. "Hold onto my hand and think about everything I told you. Imagine Gaea in your mind, wish for us to be there."
Her friend nodded, closing her eyes as she laid her hand over Hitomi.
In silence, the two prayed over the pendant, wishing to go to Gaea.
Hitomi imagined Van in her mind. Oh, please… I wish I was back on Gaea. I wish I was with Van. Please, take me back to Gaea!
Perhaps it was Hitomi's wishing, or Kei's strong images of how she imagined Gaea to be, but within seconds, a blue column of light shone down from the sky, surrounding the two.
Kei looked around, shocked as they started to slow rise in the air." H-Hitomi?" her voice shook with uncertainty.
"Hold on!"
In a flash, they rushed up together, flying up the beam until everything was gone. Unexpectedly, the feeling of solid ground came up beneath them before either of the two expected it, causing them to fall over into grass.
Grass? But we were just on cement…
Hitomi slowly opened her eyes, Kei already sitting up and staring up at the night sky with her mouth hanging open in shock.
Hanging like an ornament on the stars was the Earth. Beside it was Earth's Moon.
Hitomi grinned in glee as Kei couldn't force out any words.
She could hardly believe it. They were back.
Next chapters are the parts where things get interesting