Chapter 4
Hitomi woke up warily in the morning after a night of terrible dreams. Looking around the room she noticed two dresses that had been set out for her. One of the dresses was light beige in colour and the other dress that was dark blue. The beige dress would be worn to the ceremonies, and the beautiful dark blue dress worn to the ball later on that night.
Slowly Hitomi washed, and put on her beige dress. Looking into the mirror, she wrestled with her conscious about whether or not to tell Van of the terrible dreams that had haunted her in the night. Last time she had been on Gaea she had learned that there was no such thing as fate, and that she could not predict the future. She remembered how every time she had tried to predict the future, she had always pulled the worst possible outcomes into place instead of all the other better futures.
Should she tell Van? 'They could have been dreams and nothing else', thought Hitomi. She still felt as though those dreams seemed to be trying to warn her of some hidden danger. A wave of indecision washed over Hitomi. 'Even if my worries are unwarranted, it is better to be safe than sorry.' She thought.
An uneasy feeling swept over her mind as she decided to follow her intuition and tell Van about the warnings she had received during her sleep. Hitomi rushed towards the door determined to find Van. At the same moment that Hitomi reached for the doorknob, a servant entered Hitomi's room. The servant was about the same age as Hitomi and had long curly red hair. Her face was filled with freckles and she was very tall. The servant seemed to be startled as she noticed Hitomi standing near the door.
"Oh I apologize lady Hitomi, I was told to come here and wake you up but it appears you have already gotten up," said the servant meekly and softly as she looked down at her feet. "Is there anything you need me to do for you?" asked the servant timidly.
"Yes actually there is something you could do for me. Do you know where Van is? I need to speak with him," said Hitomi in a strong and confident tone of voice.
"Do you mean King Van? King Van is getting prepared for his speech this afternoon. Is it very urgent? If it is I could ask him if he can spare some time to meet with you. Would that be satisfactory?" replied the servant in a serious tone of voice.
"Yes, I think that will do just fine. Before you leave there is one more thing," said Hitomi as she began to blush.
"Yes?" inquired the servant.
"Could you tell him… ahh… that we need to meet someplace… in private?" stuttered Hitomi. She was embarrassed just thinking about the sentence.
"Sure," said the servant as she flashed a quick smile and walked out the door. It was a couple of moments before the servant returned. Hitomi's heart thumped loudly in anticipation. Finally the servant returned.
"He wants you to meet him on the roof," said the servant as she smiled. "He seemed to be glad to hear from you." Smiling briefly, Hitomi thanked the servant and rushed toward the roof. By the time Hitomi got to the roof, Van was already standing there looking out upon the city; He turned around as she walked onto the roof.
"What's wrong Htiomi? What's going on? The servant said that it was urgent." said Van with a concerned look on his face. He waited patiently for Hitomi to begin.
"Last night I had some very bad dreams, and Van something isn't right. They were the same kind of dreams that I had the last time I was hear on Gaea. They seemed to be trying to warn me of something… something really bad. I'm worried, really worried. I thought that I was done with this sort of thing once Zaibach had been destroyed. It's the same thing all over again. I'm really worried… I don't know what's going on or anything but I'm afraid that someone may get hurt. I don't want to predict the future but I don't know what to do… it seems like I'm getting warnings about something that is going to happen very soon…I don't know what to do Van… I don't like this."
Van seemed extremely disconcerted and worried about the sound of this news. He did not reply for quite a few moments. "What is it? Another war?" asked Van, as he seemed to purse his lips in deep thought.
"No, I'm not sure what it is. That's what worries me the most. It's something extremely bad though." said Hitomi as she looked carefully at Van's expression.
"We have many guards are on shift today because of the Gaean Peace Celebration. Anyone attempting to attack Asturia tonight would have to be absolutely crazy." said Van finally.
"I don't think they want to attack Asturia Van, I think they want something else." At that moment Van looked deeply into Hitomi's eyes and as a response to an unspoken question Hitomi answered, "I don't know what they want."
"We'll have to take some precautions." said Van seriously. "Put more guards on duty, warn the officials."
"No, don't do that. Let's wait and see what happens. Perhaps my intuition is wrong." replied Hitomi.
"That's crazy! We shouldn't sit around waiting like sitting ducks waiting to be attacked! We should do something about it while we still have the time!" said Van desperately.
"Stop rushing into things Van!" practically yelled Hitomi. "We can't just jump into things that we're not even sure of yet. Stop and analyze the situation. What if nothing at all happens and we just end up making a fool of ourselves? It would be stupid to rush and do something like that right now. Let's just keep an eye out until we know for sure that something is going to happen." said Hitomi in a frustrated voice.
Van looked at Hitomi grumpily and arrogantly but said nothing. After a while he said "Well, I will be looking very carefully to make sure nothing is up. Be careful," said Van finally relenting to Hitomi's will.
"Thanks Van," Hitomi said as she gave Van a quick hug. They walked down to the dining room hand in hand.
Rin had crouched warily in a tight spot while listening in on Van and Hitomi's conversation. He concentrated very carefully on hearing the words that were spoken. When he heard Hitomi speak of her dreams he became worried.
'The lil' bugger does have an idea about our plans,' thought Rin unhappily. Rin felt unhappy about the fact that the girl knew something was going on. This would make his job a lot more difficult. When Rin had thought that Rygens' theory about the girl had been wrong, Rin had felt relieved. Now, he was worried and in some ways scared for this girl Hitomi. He could not explain why but he felt compassion for this girl. After all, she was just a girl. After hesitating for a few moments, he decided to tell the other spies of this new discovery that he had just made. This could prove to be dangerous if he was not careful.
Van and Hitomi ate in the dining room and soon after the two went to one of the grand public speeches that Van was to speak in. Once Van and Hitomi had arrived at the Central Square, where the speech was taking place, Rin waited. After becoming sure of the fact that Hitomi would not leave and go to some unexpected place, Rin slipped placidly through the crowd.
Under different circumstances he would have pick pocketed some of the richer people in the crowd. Though, knowing the danger of drawing unwanted attention, he resisted the urge to steal. Like a fox Rin slipped through the crowd and into a dark and damp alley where he disappeared into thin air.
Hitomi watched the public ceremony with interest. She was especially happy when Van got up there and did his speech. He looked so regal, so noble and so strong. As Hitomi watched it became incredibly obvious why Van was king.
It also interested her to watch some of her other old friends speak. Allen spoke at length in the ceremony. His speech was almost longer than Van. Allen always did talk more than Van… After the ceremony had ended Hitomi and Van ended up speaking with Allen and his wife for a little over an hour. Hitomi was happy to learn that Allen was married happily with one child, with another child on the way. His wife was beautiful with long blonde hair and green eyes. Even though she was six months pregnant she still looked very beautiful.
Hitomi ended up sitting through three more separate ceremonies until all of the peace speeches were done. Finally, after that was done a large banquet took place inside of the castle. Large tables of food were set out. There were at least three hundred people dining in that room. Many servants were scuttling about serving people. Hitomi had been surprised that during all this time, she had not once been separated from Van. She could tell that what she had told him had bothered him to a great extent. For the most part he was his normal self, except it was obvious that he was looking out for any suspicious behaviour.
The two of them did not get to talk during dinner because of all the introductions that were made. Hitomi swore that she had seen more than two dozen women give her a dirty look as she held hands with Van. Some of the more conspicuous noble women walked up to Van and started flirting relentlessly with him. Hitomi knew that she should probably be jealous but she knew Van would never have anything to do with them. She could see his obvious disgust in the expression of his face. Secretly, she laughed inside.
The banquet lasted for roughly two hours. While the banquet was still on, the fireworks took place. Van and Hitomi watched the fireworks happily from a balcony. They were surprised to meet Milerna and her--
"Hitomi, Van!" Once Milerna had got Van and Hitomi's attention she introduced him to her soon-to-be husband. "This is my fiancé, this is the Earl I was talking about. His name is Jerald and he is my soon-to-be husband. He just proposed!" said Milerna excitedly. Instinctively, Hitomi hugged Milerna. While Hitomi was hugging her, Milerna gave Van a sly look to Van gave a quaint nod in response. No words passed between the two of them but it was obvious that they had just relayed an important message to each other.
Hitomi soon turned her attention to Milerna's fiancé. He was an older man of about his late thirties. He had kind, caring and experienced eyes. Jerald was a very tall man, being over a head taller than Van. His sword was strapped onto his hilt. He had longish brown hair that was tied back. Grey was starting to show up in his hair and Hitomi could tell immediately that he was very an intelligent and mature man.
"Congratulations!" said Hitomi merrily as she went to shake hands with Milerna's fiancé. Her fiancé took her hand and kissed it, a royal greeting." I've heard quite bit about you! It's nice to meet you!" said Hitomi happily to Jerald.
"It's nice to meet you too!" Jerald released Hitomi's hand. Milerna has told me so much about you and your journeys here on Gaea. It's amazing that you came here all the way from the Mystic Moon. I've had stories about people coming there but I thought it was all myth. It appears I was wrong though." Jerald had a deep and soothing voice. At that moment Milerna grabbed onto Hitomi's arm.
"Let's leave these two gentlemen to amongst themselves. I need to talk to you," said Milerna in a secretive tone of voice. Hitomi nodded in response.
"Hitomi and I are going to freshen up. I hope you two gentlemen don't mind being left alone for a while," said Milerna slyly.
"Go on my sweet, come back soon," replied Jerald in his sweet tone of voice. "I'll miss you." Milerna walked up to Jerald, hugged him and was then ready to go.
Van nodded at Hitomi and then Hitomi and Milerna walked away together.
As Hitomi and Milerna walked through the halls silently casually Hitomi finally began to get curious about where they were going. "Where are we going, what is this all about?" asked Hitomi anxiously.
"You'll see, we're going to my room because it's quiet in there and we can talk." replied Milerna. They did not speak until the reached the safety of Milerna's room.
"Okay finally, are you going to tell me what's going on here?" impatiently asked Hitomi.
"Yeah, yeah fine, you don't have to be grumpy about it, "complained Milerna. "I want you to be my maid of honour," said Milerna solemnly and surely. "Will you do it?"
Amazement ran through Hitomi. "You want me to be your bride's maid? I'm honoured but wouldn't you want someone else to do it? I mean we haven't seen each other in three years and I'm sure you know someone who would be more qualified than me," said Hitomi in a worrisome tone of voice.
"That's just it. I don't know any one more qualified than you Hitomi. You're intelligent, pretty and you're not afraid to stand up to me and tell me when you think I am wrong. Besides that, you are my best friend, and I could never think of anyone more suited to the position than you are," at that moment the two girls were hugging, tears came out of both of their eyes. "Please say you'll do it."
"I'll do it," the two girls remained hugging and crying for the next several minutes. Finally the hugging spree broke and they looked at each solemnly, the remains of tears still twinkling in their eyes.
"We better get going, Van and Jerald will be waiting for us," said Hitomi at last. They had been gone for at least a quarter of an hour.
"Wait there is one more thing I've got to ask you," said Milerna seriously. She began to walk around the room in circles.
"Yes, what is it?" asked Hitomi curiously as she took a seat.
"How do you feel about marriage?" asked Milerna pensively. She stopped and looked directly at Hitomi.
"I don't know, I think marriage is well… marriage. It's really special. I'm pretty sure you and Jerald will be very happy together, I'm sure it's the right thing to do. You two seem to love each other so I think everything will go fine," replied Hitomi honestly.
"So you think if two people love each other they should get married right?" fished Milerna nervously. She was glad see that it seemed like Hitomi had no idea of what she was talking about.
"Yeah. As long as two people are in love, want to be with each other and are ready to be married, they should get married," responded Hitomi wisely "Why what is this all about? Are you unsure of your marriage to Jerald? If you're not sure you really should call off the wedding. I'm sure Jerald will understand that you're just not ready yet," advised Hitomi wisely as she looked straight at Milerna's face which was now turning pink from blushing.
"No, it's nothing like that. It's nothing. Never mind. I shouldn't have brought it up. Let's get back to our dates, shall we?" said Milerna as she began to shine with her usual glow.
"Whatever you think is best," agreed Hitomi and the two of them walked back to the garden. Jerald and Van were still standing roughly where they had been when the two girls had left. It had been so long that the fireworks had finished and everyone had gone inside. The ball was about to start.
"Did the two of you have a nice little chat?" Asked Jerald as Milerna walked over to him and grabbed a hold of his arm.
"We sure did, Hitomi agreed to be my maid of honour." replied Milerna happily as they began to walk inside of the castle.
"That's wonderful news!" announced Jerald. "I can't wait!" Van held out his arm for Hitomi to grab onto and the two of them walked into the castle arm in arm.
Rin walked silently amongst the crowd trying not to look too conspicuous. This was the night that really mattered; this is the night he had to capture Hitomi. She had seen him at least twice on this day already but had never stopped to think about it.
On this night he was dressed like a noble man, even though he was anything but. This job was turning out to be a lot more difficult than he expected it to be. He just hoped that the cards turn out in his favour.
"Things are being made increasingly more difficult because she seems to know that something is up, but how much does she really know? Hopefully not enough spoil my plans." thought Rin worriedly. "If anything goes wrong on this night I will not get paid, and even worse, I might end up getting killed.'
Rin waited anxiously for the right time to come. 'This will succeed, it will,' thought Rin in an attempt to convince himself that everything was going to go all right.
The ball soon came underway, and Milernas dancing lessons had paid off well. Hitomi did not mess up the dance once during the time she was dancing with Van. Van and Hitomi danced for the first several dances. It was beautiful, a night that Hitomi did not want to end. Hitomi had her head rested on Van's shoulder. It was not too long until people walked up to them and started asking them for a dance.
Hitomi was surprised to see that Allen and his wife walked up to them. Cheerfully Allen's wife asked, "Would the two of you like to switch partners?" reluctantly Van and Hitomi agreed and before Hitomi knew it, her hands were in Allen's and they were dancing.
For Hitomi it felt odd and awkward dancing with Allen like this. It had not been too long ago when the two of them had been more than friends, and she had believed that she was in love with him. Not too far away Allen's wife and Van were dancing gracefully. His wife was a graceful dancer and Hitomi had not realized just how good at dancing Van really was. They were dancing a much more difficult dance than any of the dances that Hitomi had been taught. She became embarrassed when she realized that Van had been making the dance easier for her so she would not look like a fool. To add to Hitomi's embarrassment she became so distracted watching Van that she stepped on Allen's foot.
"I'm really sorry," said Hitomi as she began to blush. The always chivalrous Allen just smiled and said, "That's alright," in his soothing voice.
"Is Van treating you well? Are you happy?" asked Allen awkwardly after a fairly long amount of time had passed.
"Yeah, everything is going well, I'm happy," replied Hitomi.
"I'm happy to hear it", said Allen cheerfully, "I really think that you've made the right choice. I'm glad to hear that you've finally come back. Van has really missed you, you know? I…"
Hitomi did not hear the rest of the sentence. All of the sudden reality faded out and all she was left with was black. She could not see anything anywhere. She couldn't move and on top of that she had a feeling as though she could breathe. She struggled and struggled, gasping for air but she did not get any. Her lungs were paining for air and she was slowly dying.
"Please no, not like this" screamed Hitomi in her mind. It was completely useless; she could not even speak, no matter how much she tried. Something was being held over her mouth and nose. Around her were evil voices, speaking to her laughing, thinking they had won. She could not understand what they were saying. She completely stopped breathing.
"Hitomi, Hitomi," yelled Allen as Hitomi collapsed into his arms. Van ran over immediately. Allen shook Hitomi violently trying to wake her up. "I don't know what's going on, we were talking and dancing and then all the sudden she stopped breathing and collapsed. A rather large crowd was gathering around Allen, Van and Hitomi trying to figure out what was going on. Allen gently handed over Hitomi to Van who continued to shake her and call to her. Allen looked quickly over at his wife, "Anne get some water please," said Allen urgently as Van and himself made a dual effort to wake Hitomi up. Anne came back quickly with the water. Allen grabbed it quickly and put some into Hitomi's mouth.
"Unnnnn…" said Hitomi as she opened up her eyes. Allen was standing with a worried look on his face in front of her and she was being supported by Van. Quickly she stood up to notice that everyone had gathered around, watching what was going on.
Van was going to say something but Allen said it first, "What happened? What's wrong? Are you all right? You looked like you were having a vision."
Hitomi looked warily around her. "I'm alright, I just felt a little light headed that's all. I'm perfectly fine now." Most of the spectators returned their attention back to their own business.
"Dear, maybe you should take a rest," said Anne. "Maybe there has been a little bit too much excitement for tonight," said Anne as she looked at her husband Allen lovingly. "Perhaps you should take a walk, clear your head a bit and come back when you're feeling better." Van and Allen looked doubtfully at each other.
"I think you're right, I should take a walk," said Hitomi. "Van would you like to come with me," Van nodded and they walked out hand in hand.
"Shall we go to the garden?" asked Hitomi and they began to walk toward the garden. They were surprised to see that no one else was walking in the garden; all of the people had gone inside. It was a beautiful night and the stars were shining brightly. They walked over to the fountain.
"You had a vision," stated Van bluntly as he looked straight into her eyes.
"I had a vision but I'm sure it was nothing," lied Hitomi. She did not want to worry Van. 'Maybe if I do not do anything about it, it will go away and nothing will happen.' reasoned Hitomi.
"Are you sure?" asked Van.
"I'm sure." stated Hitomi bluntly. It was several minutes before either of them spoke. They peered out at the wonderful and perfect sky, amazed at how beautiful it was that night. Finally the silence was broke.
"Hitomi there has been something that I have wanted to ask you," said Van as he pulled a box out of a hidden pocket. The box was somewhat larger than a ring box.
"Yes?" said Hitomi curiously as she watched Van's movement. Van pulled out a white package that had a red ribbon wrapped around it. Carefully Van untied the ribbon and gently opened the box to reveal a beautiful gold necklace. It bore the Fanelian emblem and jewels were encrusted into it.
"It's beautiful Van, but what is this?" asked Hitomi curiously as her cheeks began to turn red. Van soon continued talking.
"This is the necklace that my father gave my mother when he proposed. It has been in my family for a very long time." said Van matter of factly. His own face had turned quite red at this point. Suddenly Hitomi realized what was happening and was shocked that she had not realized what was happening before. "So that's what Milerna was hinting about," was one of the thoughts that raced through her mind. She began breathing quite frantically.
"I… I want… the kingdom needs a queen… and… it would be best for me too if… you…you… would… become my queen… " Van stuttered out clumsily. He could not even look at her. He looked directly down, at the necklace, his face beat red.
"I…I…" stumbled Hitomi as she attempted to sort out her racing thoughts. It was at that moment that a messenger barged loudly into the garden. The messenger bowed quickly and began to speak.
"Excuse me Lord Van, you are needed urgently in the conference room," said the messenger quickly. The messenger was very thin with blonde hair in the start of a beard. It was obvious that the messenger boy was still in puberty because his voice cracked as he spoke.
"Can it wait?" asked Van irritably, his face was still red.
"No, it can't wait one minute," replied the messenger. "It's urgent."
"What is it?" Grumpily asked Van.
"I wasn't told, I was just told it was urgent and that they need you right away." bellowed the messenger.
"Okay," said Van as he wrapped up the necklace again and put it away. "I'll be right back. You might want to go inside until I come back." said Van softly as he left the garden.
Hitomi was still stunned at all that had happened. She looked wearily at herself through the water. 'It's happening all so fast, what am I going to do?' That was one of her last thoughts before she saw through the water of the fountain, the reflection of someone who was coming up behind her. She was about to scream but did not have time. She was grabbed from behind and restrained. A hand was clasped over her mouth.
Hitomi attempted to fight whoever has grabbed her but they were too strong. She struggled as her attacker dragged her helplessly away.