Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne or the Titanic

Chapter 2: Differences between classes

After a few hours at sea the Titanic stopped at Cherbourg around 7 pm and many more immigrants came on board. The 1st class people ignored them and acted like they themselves owned the ship. 2nd and 3rd class people welcomed them happily but it was mostly 3rd class.

About an hour before dinner Van, Anna, Merle and Dryden were in the reception room discussing what they were going to do in America. At the moment Merle was speaking.

"I can't wait to see mother and father again. They were absolutely wonderful parents. Don't you think so Van?" Van could see Merle trying to cover up her distress of her parents.

"Oh, yes! I can't wait to see them again. What has it been? 2 years? Yes, it will be nice to be living with them." Of course Merle wouldn't be living with them, she would only be visiting. Van tried to hide some of the anger he felt for his father who, tried to get him to take over their company, Escaflowne which designs and makes the most up-to-date cars. His parents wanted Merle and him to do a bit of traveling in Europe to get a feel for different cultures. But now, he and his sister decided it was time to come home. When they heard about the Titanic they decided to purchase some tickets. Unfortunately, Van wasn't looking forward to it because he knew his father would try to get him involved in the company as he tried to do it 2 years ago.

There was one good thing about returning to America. Not seeing Anna. He met her in unfortunate circumstances and from then on she was always visiting him and trying to get involved with him. She had made more then one attempt to have an intimate moment with him, so, it was more than obvious that she liked him. Once they were in America they would be in different states and she wouldn't be able to bother him as much. He thought it was more than a coincidence that she was leaving Europe to go live with her parents exactly when he was, especially after she told him how much she hates her parents. Once he and Merle told Anna they were leaving Europe to return home she said that it was such a coincidence because she was planning on returning home as well. She asked them if she could share a suite with them and Van reluctantly agreed.

Even if they were in the same country they still wouldn't be able to keep in touch frequently. He knew she would try though.

He didn't realize they were continuing their conversation without him and that Anna was speaking.

"Van, once we're in America I think we should visit each other. It will be very much satisfying", she grinned and batted her eyelashes.

Satisfying? More like grueling, he thought. If she's trying to get me to like her she's not doing a very good job.

"Yes I agree, but it will be quite difficult since I will be involved in a lot of business matters when I get back", he responded lightly. But he had no intention of keeping in touch with her but she didn't need to know that. She was exactly the opposite of what he was looking for in a woman. She was snobby, selfish and treated people of lower society with very little respect. She may be beautiful but there are a lot of beautiful women out there. Besides, he was looking for someone with a decent personality.

"Yes your father's business. You told me you took quite an interest in that", Anna said. Merle glared at him. She knew he lied to Anna and she heard all the conversations between father and son and how Van expressed his thoughts about the business.

"I'm looking forward to it", he answered politely.

"That's wonderful! And you Merle? Are you going to live with your parents as well?" Anna asked.

"Actually, I'm going to be engaged when I return home." Merle smiled.

"Oh how lovely! Congratulations!" Anna said in a happy tone.

"Yes I'm very excited", Merle said in a dead tone. Fortunately Anna didn't seem to notice Merle's unhappiness in how she said it.

Merle continued and put on a fake smile, "His name is Adrien Wolsley and I hear he is lovely. I look forward to meeting him." Van felt bad for Merle. He knew how unhappy she was about the marriage and that there was nothing he could do about it. When she was 16 she was forced to attend many different parties and introduced to several single, wealthy men. However, she took no interest in any of them. After a year of attending these pointless parties, when she was 17, her and Van went on the 2 year trip in Europe. Van suspected that another reason their parents came up with the trip was so that Merle might take an interest in a wealthy man in England or France. But the 2 years that they traveled she never met any man she could like. Or at least Van didn't know any man that they met that she liked.

When their parents received news that they were coming home and that Merle was not betrothed to anyone they sent a letter to her saying that she was engaged. She was angry about it and Van knew that once they arrived at their parents' home she would talk to their parents about it. They had already purchased their tickets to America when the letter from their parents was sent. Now 19, Merle could be considered old to be engaged considering girls aged 15 and 16 get married.

At least Van and Merle would face their problems together.

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After spending most of the afternoon with Amano and Mamoru, Hitomi and Yukari said they would meet them at dinner after going to their rooms.

Once they entered their room, they saw that Celena, Elizabeth and John weren't there. Hitomi went on the right top bunk where her bag was and grabbed one of the three dresses she owned. Well four if you included the one she was wearing. Also inside her bag were 2 shawls, a brown button-up coat, a few pounds of money that she had saved from the last couple of years and her pendant that her grandmother gave her when she was 5 years old.

She quickly changed into one of her dresses and put on her pendant. She grabbed her blue shawl in case she decided to go outside.

When Hitomi jumped down from her bunk Yukari was finished getting ready as well. They both headed for the door but stopped when it opened and Celena and Elizabeth came in followed by John.

"Oh, we're just about to have dinner with my brother and Yukari's fiancé. Do you want to join us?" Hitomi asked.

"Of course we will! We'll just drop off our coats now", Elizabeth responded. Celena nodded and put her coat on the left top bunk.

"Do you know if your twin brother will be able to join us?", Yukari asked.

"Oh, Dilandau? Probably not. He's always doing something abnormal." Celena laughed.

"I guess so. Brothers can be a pain. So he's your twin? Do you look a lot a like?", Hitomi asked curiously.

"Pretty much. Our hair is the exact same color. His is just a bit shorter and we have different color eyes."

"Cool!" Yukari said.

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Once they found Mamoru and Amano they introduced them to Celena, Elizabeth and John. They were simple greetings and Amano looked curiously at Celena. "Hey do you have a brother named Dilandau?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know him?" Celena asked.

"Yeah! He's our room mate! He's one crazy dude!"

Celena laughed. "Yup. He tries to keep to himself though. He has his little group of friends that he hangs out with."

"Yeah we met one of them. His name's Chesta. He's our other room mate!" Amano said. "This is such a coincidence!"

"Yeah", she answered.

When they entered their dining saloon there were several large tables that seated twenty people each. Each table was covered in white cloth and there was beautiful cutlery in front of each seat. The chairs were made with teak and there was oak paneling. Even though the 3rd class dining saloon was far below in the ship on F Deck there was still a lot of light spread evenly throughout the room.

They seated themselves at a table in the far corner in the room near a window. Once they sat down another group of people joined them so by the time those people came the table was full. Everyone socialized with each other and there was a nice, friendly atmosphere. For Hitomi, it was nice meeting people who she could talk with and who were going to America for the same reasons as her. The people who she was talking with were from France and Ireland. Her and her friends had a lovely meal. She had boiled potatoes, vegetable soup and plum pudding in sweet sauce for dessert. By the time she was done she was extremely full.

Almost everyone was done at the same time and they all decided to go to the entertainment room where people were dancing and drinking.

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While the 3rd class people were partying the 1st class people were eating elegant meals and talking business matters with each other. Van was bored. When he was in Europe, the people he socialized with were lively and didn't talk gossip like the people he was sitting with now. The only people he actually liked on the boat were Merle, Dryden and Millerna. At tonight's dinner he met all sorts of people he'd heard about. He even met the richest man on the ship, John Jacob Astor and his pregnant wife Madeleine. They were charming at first but then they turned out to be like everyone else. But then he thought what did I expect coming from the richest man on the ship? While Anna was telling everyone about her house in New York, Van was silently eating his meal.

Suddenly a man came from behind Van and bent down to say something. "Sir Van Fanel I received a letter from your parents. I hope I'm not disturbing your meal. Here it is." He handed him an envelope and Van took it and placed it in his pocket.

"Thank you", Van said. The messenger left.

Van decided he might as well get it over with and open the letter. He slipped the envelope under the table and opened it and read:

Dearest Van,

We hope you are having a lovely time on the lovely ship we have heard so much about. We look forward to your return. Not to just see how you've changed, but to discuss very important matters with you.

When we spoke with you about Escaflowne you simply brushed it off. We suspected you didn't see our serious we were. You have no choice in the matter. If you do not run the company the family business will go straight into the ground. Do you realize how people will perceive us? Our family reputation will be ruined if you do not take the stand and become a man.

You also need to find a suitable bride .We realize you are quite young but we know you can handle this. There are many young women who will be a suitable heiress and a wonderful bride. When you arrive home you will attend the type of parties your sister did. We expect no objection about any of this. We also hope you are happy about your sister's engagement. Enjoy your trip!

Sincerely,

Mom And Dad

When Van finished reading he felt a surge of anger go through him. How dare they? Talking about running my life? It is not their decision to decide if I choose to run Escaflowne! Van decided he needed to get some air and do some thinking.

He was almost finished his meal anyway. He stood up and everyone at the table looked at him. Anna decided to end the silence that began "Van, wherever are you going?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm finished. I'm going to go for a walk. I will come back. Don't worry", he said.

Without letting Anna respond Van left and headed for the promenade deck.

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After dancing with several men for more than 45 minutes Hitomi was dead tired and told her brother she needed to cool off. He agreed but told her to not go too far and put on her shawl or she might catch cold.

Hitomi nodded and headed in the direction of the exit. She went up several flights of stairs and was outside in the chilly night air. She wrapped her shawl around her head. They had just left Cherbourg so it must have been around 10 p.m. The sky was pitch black and there were many stars lighting the night sky.

Hitomi went in the direction of the stern. She saw very little people outside, as it was quite cold. She started to think about America and what would happen if her dreams came true. She would start off in New York and work from there. That's where she heard most of them started.

She leaned against the rail on the side of the ship near the stern and began thinking about Mamoru when she heard a deep voice behind her. "Hello, look what we have hear gentlemen! Hello little lady, care to show us a good time?"

Hitomi turned around and saw about five men. She knew who spoke first when the man continued talking. "Well, don't just stand there. You gotta show us somethin'!" Hitomi was scared. She didn't recognize any of them. All of them were hiding their faces with their coats. They were all grinning but the only one speaking was one with blood-red eyes. She didn't know what to do.

The one with the haunting eyes stepped toward her and said, "Don't try to run away! It won't do you any good!"

Hitomi said in a shaky voice, "M-my brother will come! He'll kill you if you don't leave now!"

The men could obviously tell she was scared. The one with the red eyes said, "Oh really? Well where is he? I don't see him." He continued walking toward her.

Hitomi decided to make a run for it. She dashed closer to the stern but stopped when one of them blocked her path. She turned the other way and found herself in front of the one with the blood eyes. They formed a circle around her and picked her up and pulled her into a corner. She started to scream for help but one of them put a hand over her mouth and no sound came out. She tried to bite his hand but couldn't because he was wearing a thick glove.

All of them held down her arms and legs and the one with the red eyes whom she assumed was the leader of their "gang" bent over her and started to un-button her shirt. He stopped when he saw her pendant. "Oooh look what we have here fellas! This should be worth quite a bit!"

He started to try and take it off around her neck but stopped when he heard footsteps along the deck. The footsteps became louder and started to speed up. A deep voice yelled, "What are you doing? Get away from her!"

The five men got off her and dashed off but the leader with the red eyes winked at her before disappearing around the corner.

Hitomi felt sore on her arms and her legs. She unrolled her sleeves of her shirt but stopped when she saw bruises. Suddenly a hand was held out before her and she grasped it. It pulled her up to her feet and she saw deep maroon eyes staring at her. The eyes looked so whole. She stood before a man with wild jet-black hair that covered parts of his face. He certainly had a different hairstyle than what most men have these days, she noted. He was quite tall with broad shoulders and striking tanned skin from what she could see from the light. She could tell he was in first class from his exceptionally extravagant clothes.

He spoke. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

After gazing into his eyes she snapped out of it and said, "Yes, I'm fine thank you." She started to walk around him in a fast pace and walked away from him.

He easily caught up with her and said, "Well you're certainly the talking type", she turned to look at him and noticed he was grinning. Well what do you expect? She thought. I was almost raped you dummy! Hitomi was still shivering at the thought of what they might have done to her if he hadn't come. All she wanted to do was get into her bed and go to sleep. Why was this man still bothering her? She was sure he had better things to do than ask a poor girl like her is she was alright.

"I just want to get to my room and go to sleep. I'll be better in the morning. Thank you for your help. I appreciate it." She started to walk off again. She expected him to leave it at that and head in the other direction but he did just the opposite.

He ran ahead of her and blocked her path. She started getting mad. Hitomi said, "Look I said thank you enough! If you want me to pay you I'm afraid you'll be unsatisfied. In case you couldn't tell from my clothes, I have very little money."

The young man suddenly frowned and said, "Milady, please don't think so low of me. I only wanted to know your name."

Hitomi felt embarrassed. "Oh well if that's all, then I'll tell you. It's-"

"Hitomi! Hitomi! Are you alright?", the voice that shouted her name belonged to Mamoru. He ran toward Hitomi and noticed her half un-buttoned blouse and then he glared at her savior. "Did you touch her? I will ki-"

Mamoru was cut off when the stranger said, "No in fact, it was quite the opposite. I'm afraid this young lady here", he gestured to Hitomi "was in some sort of trouble with a group of young men and they retreated when I came along and saw this unfortunate incident."

"Well thank you. I appreciate you for saving my sister." Mamoru shook his hand then placed it around Hitomi's shoulders. "C'mon Hitomi let's go."

They started to walk away but stopped when the stranger said, "Hitomi, that's a beautiful name. If you're curious Hitomi, my name is Van. Van Fanel."

She never even asked him his name! But now that she admitted it to herself she was rather curious to the name of her savior but when she turned around to say that she wasn't curious he was gone. Oh well, it's not like I'll ever see Van Fanel again, she said to herself. He's probably just like the rest of those snobby 1st class, selfish idiots who think they run the ship. Hitomi didn't know it, but this Van Fanel she would see a lot more than just that one time.

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Yeah just to make things clear. I hope no one already made a story like this because one day I was just thinking about the Titanic and then I came up with the idea to put the Esca cast on the titanic. I did not copy it from anyone. And ya you should review I want to hear what's bad about my story so far.