The Legend of Liocorna

Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne. This is just one of my crazy Fanfictions! *g*

So here we have the 6th chappie and it is sorted in two years after the last one I wrote. Just read and ENJOY!!!

Chapter 6: A New War 1,1

Two years...

Such a short time it can be in a human life, but also endlessly long....

For Van Fanel, it had been more than long...

It had been an eternity!

An eternity since Merle had stormed into his room.

An eternity since she had started to cry and give him the good-bye letter from Hitomi.

And nearly since two years he had begun his search for the one he loved. Asturia, Freid, even Zaibach and many other countries had helped in the search, but of no avail. They had searched in every corner of Gaia, at all the places they thought she could possibly be!! She was not to be found.

Since she had been gone, his heart had felt totally empty with nothing inside of it, only pain and agony. Even Merle hadn't managed to cheer him up. He had most times forced a smile on lips, but it had never reached his eyes and Merle gave up. Nothing made him laugh anymore. Everything was so empty without her. If he had though that the 1 ½ years after their first separation had been tough, those two years until know had been much worse.

When Hitomi had gone back to the Mystic Moon, he had somewhat known where she was and that she was with her family and probably even happy, but know he knew nothing of those things. This time she definitely hadn't gone back to the Mystic Moon. No one had reported of seeing a blue pillar of light. Besides, hadn't her mother told her, she should find something on Gaia? But where was she then now?

He had tried so much... drowsing, making mind contact,... he had even tried it all with the energiest from Escaflowne, but it was no use. Even when he thought he felt her inside his mind or tried to get a picture from where she was, everything would suddenly go blank and solid, as if Hitomi herself or someone didn't want him to find her.

Finding Hitomi was only one of his problems. Connected with that one, there were also his advisers, especially Asgoth, who pestered him already over ¾ of this year to finally pick a suitable wife (meaning a princess or some other rich noble girl) and make her Queen of Fanelia. But that was impossible for him! How could he just forget Hitomi and marry someone else he probably could never love? The only person he wanted at his side was Hitomi, but se was far away from him probably.

Yet still, a deep hidden sparkle inside of him still hoped that she would just walk through those palace gates again so he could take her in his arms. She would say sorry, that she hadn't arrived soon and that everything was okay now and she would never leave him again.

Unfortunately, nothing was okay. About a year after Hitomi's sudden disappearance reports had come in from different end of Gaia that countries were being attacked by an unknown enemy. The enemy had Guymelefs who wore invisible cloaks, others had liquid metal or flame-throwers and some could even shoot little balls of energy that could pulverise into smithereens. At first, everyone had thought it had been Zaibach back into power, but they had just managed to rebuild most of the country and were attacked only shortly after the thought had occurred to them. The worst thing was, that you never knew, what the Guymelef in front of you could do, because they all looked the same but never had the same abilities. It was to confusing, since the few survivors who managed to escape into another country told of the soldiers from the enemy always saying, that they were "going to clean all Gaia from it's bloods dirt!".

Those were all the sort of thoughts Van had right at the moment upon the walls of his city. Under him soldiers were running here and there hectic to make the last preparations before it started. Before the again the battle for Fanelia started.

Van had joined a meeting with his advisers, the castle samurais and messengers the day before to discuss Fanelia's current situation. They had talked for hours and hours until the sun had already begun to set. But there was denying it. The enemy was heading this way. The next target would be Fanelia and then came the next country like Asturia or so. The building of a good defence for the city had begun immediately. Guymelef were brought to there position and the women and children were brought into the mountains were there was a passage way for them to escape and be safe if the city should fall. Van prayed it wouldn't come that far.

"Your Highness!" A soldier came running up to him panting heavy. "The spies have told us that the enemy will shortly arrive. What is you order, sir?"

Van closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "Tell everyone to be prepared for battle in at least half an hour. I want the two biggest Guymelef troops at the opposite sides of the outer walls and two troops of extra soldiers with them. The archers shall be placed directly here at the walls and some if possible on the outer mountains. I the rest I leave up to the best solutions the Samurais have got, for it is probably the best. We won't go down without a fight!"

With that Van turned around and headed towards the castle.

"Where are you going, my Lord!?!"


"I'm going to reactivate Escaflowne! We will have better chances with him!"

And so he did. Van went into the castle to retrieve the energiest from his room. The castle was deadly quiet for the servants had also took shelter in the mountains. Only a few guards were still posted here and there and Van met no one on his way to his brothers grave where the giant Escaflowne rested.

The years of not being used had left no trace on the Guymelef. It was as if it had know it would be needed someday. It still stood majestic on one knee beside the grave, guarding the eternal sleep of the royal family members.

Van looked up at it. With one easy jump he was on one of the knees and let the energiest melt once again into the heart of the Guymelef, were it started to pump in the rhythm of Van's heart. With loud hiss and much steam the cockpit opened and Van hoped in. As it closed again and he started to check everything over, the sensation of recognition swept over Van. It was as if he had never left Escaflowne's cockpit and the Guymelef was welcoming him back. Van turned the Machine to Dragon-Mode and flew back to the city gates as loud cheers followed him. He transformed back and landed in front of the gates In the distant he could already see the enemy approaching. He took out Escaflowne's sword and held it high into the sky.

"Soldiers, do not despair. If they want war, they are going to get it and we will not let them bring us down!!!" Van shouted as more cheers erupted from his men. Yes they wouldn't let them ruin there City again at all costs. There king was with them and they all trusted him with there lives.

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A/N: I am not going to go into details of how the fight starts and all. I'm not very good at it and I hope you all will forgive me. But now on with the story

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The battle raged on as the walls started to give away to the mass of the enemy. As much the soldiers of Fanelia tried to fend the foe of, it always seemed to getting more and more.

Van was in the front line of the battle field. He was fighting of two Guymelefs at a time and slowly but surly his strength was leaving him. All over the field lay bodies of dead soldiers. His own as well as those of the enemy. Something inside of him told Van that he had seen those men before. His mind was so occupied with that thought that he nearly got stabbed by a third Guymelef popping out of nowhere at his side.

Van only found it out again when a enemy soldier dropped dead to his left. His armour wasn't so much blood covered like most of the others, so you could clearly see the greenish shine the armour gave. Van took a harsh breath as pits and parts of past memories shut far away into a corner of his mind. How could he have been so blind? How could he not have noticed? How on Gaia could he not have noticed it?!? It was them! Those same uniforms and armours the men had been wearing who had tried to kidnap Hitomi and even killed six of his castle guards in the process! And now they were attacking Fanelia after they had already attacked many other countries!

But why were they suddenly appearing again? Why after so long? Did they... find Hitomi? Van hoped that it was not so. He couldn't bare the thought, what those murders could have done to Hitomi. Or maybe, but just maybe they had given up on finding her and decided to attack without using her. Or it was there way of searching for her. Van was confused he didn't know, what to think anymore. He was so confused with those things running through his head, that he only saw at the last second the energy ball race towards him. It missed him by inches and luckily destroyed the enemy Guymelef in his back. But he didn't see the other one beside it. It jumped forward and with his claws, grabbed Escaflowne from behind. The energy-Guymelef fired again and van could only watch with wide eyes his end drawing nearer.

What happened next, no one suspected and took all of them by surprise. Instead of the ball hitting Escaflowne and blowing him to smithereens, it exploded 5 meters in front of him as it hit some sort of barrier. At the same time the Enemy Guymelef behind Van loosened his grip and fell dead behind him. Van only half registered that as he watched in awe how the barrier started to grow. It spread and made a clear line between the Fanelian soldiers and the enemy. As the barrier went higher into the sky, so that also no attacks from above could harm the city. A fait tune could be heard, as if someone was playing on a flute, but Van couldn't tell from where.

Just as he wanted to turn around to see, if it came from behind, his mind (through his draconian power) picked up a mind call that drifted by. It hadn't been meant for him so he only heard it from far away. Still he understood, what the person said, but couldn't make out if it was male or female because of the distant and the silent echo tat followed it.

Creatures hidden far and wide in the forest! Do not forget thy vow you made! It is time to hold to it! I call upon you! Come forth!!

When this together with the music stopped, everybody froze at the raw coming out of the forest. Van couldn't believe his eyes as at least two docent Dragons came marching out from behind the trees. Before he could even blink, the Dragons already started attacking the enemy soldiers and Guymelefs. Of course the soldiers on foot or maybe even on horse didn't stand a chance against the Dragons as panic started to spread in there rows. The Guymelefs who had a flame-thrower were those with the less opportunities as the flames only enraged the Dragons more. Those with the claws and liquid metal mostly only managed to make a little scratch on the solid scales. The only ones, who could do real damage were those Guymelefs with the energy-balls, but they were only about five or six and the dragons surrounded each one of them in different formations once they had the chance.

It was not a fair fight. It was a slaughter!

Within minutes the Dragons had killed most of the enemy. Soldiers fleeing in every direction without any rational thought, even into the forest were there could still be more Dragons. One of the Guymelefs still standing (he looked like one of the leaders from a squadron) turned to Escaflowne in which Van was still sitting totally perplex. With a loud booming voce that could be heard over the entire battle field, he shouted:

"You may have one this battle, Fanel, but you have not won the war!! We will spare Fanelia until the time for a next attack has come and move on to the next country! This will not be the last time you have heard from us!"

And with that he together with the last hand full of Guymelef and Soldiers he retreated and the Dragons let them pass. As they were gone there was a moment of silence before one of the Dragons gave a giant roar and the other answered. They all looked one last time in the direction of the city as if to look, if they really weren't needed anymore. It was only a tiny cheer, beginning in the centre of the mass of soldiers and spreading all over until there was no one left, who didn't cheer. With a sigh of relieve Van opened the hatch from Escaflowne and stepped out. The moment he did this, his eyes met the ones of the leader Dragon, who had given the first roar. And again his mind picked up a message, but this time it was directed straight at him and from the dragon:

You have got a person out there, who cares very deeply for you, child of the Dragons. I hope you'll meet her soon, but then you must protect her at all costs! She must not fall into the hands of the enemy. Fair well for know! Maybe we will meet again...

And with that, the Dragon turned around and soon vanished back into the forest the others following behind. Van could only stare after them as the cheering of his soldiers behind him went on. Deep inside, he couldn't stop the tiny spark of hope start to grow and blossom into a great burning sensation that spread through his entire soul. The spark in his eyes which everyone had been missing for so long was slowly but surly returning. It was only a tiny speck at the moment, but it would grow fast with each day.

Maybe he had understood the meaning behind the Dragons words. Maybe she was finally coming back. He looked into the now clear blue sky as the first real smile since two years spread across his face. It wasn't big, but it came deep from within.

I wont give up now! I promise I'll find you again Hitomi and help you endure everything you'll have to go through. I wont let us be separated again. Never ever again.

Unknown to him and the rest of his men, a lonely figure was watching this all from high atop of the mountains behind the City of Fanelia. Unknown to Van, it had heard his and the Dragons thoughts as now tears streamed down the persons face. Not making a sound, the person slowly turned its back to the rescued city and walked away.

Chapter end