Synopsis

its Escaflowne meets the Pride and Prejudice storyline. Hitomi's in her second year of university, and gets called back to Gaea, etc. For those of you who love P & P, it won't be exactly the same, obviously. Hitomi comes back to Gaea, and brings Yukari along with her. Is Van still in love with her? Or does he hate her guts? Other pairings and drama will occur, do not worry, this isn't your typical "I love you, where have you been? Let's have sex" fanfic.

But, as it is a fanfic, I'm allowing myself some artistic liberties with the plot, otherwise everyone would be OOC, and it wouldn't work so well. Oh, and I'm bringing Folken back from the dead… just because I needed another character, and I didn't want to use a John Doe. And I like Folken…

Character parallels (major characters)

Hitomi – Elizabeth Bennet
Van – Mr. Darcy
Yukari – Jane Bennet
Princess Milerna – Lydia Bennet
Folken – Mr. Bingly
Allan – Mr. Wickham
Merle – Charlotte Lucas
Prince Chid – Mr. Collins

Disclaimer – I do not own either Escaflowne or Pride and Prejudice. I just think the combination of the two could be potentially interesting…

Chapter 1

I slowly turned my head and looked at Yukari. She looked as if she was going to be sick. "Hitomi, where the hell are we?" Her eyes were filled with fear and questioning. I knew explaining all this to her was not going to be easy.

"You know back when we were in high school, and I was really depressed? Well, this has part to do with it… There is a lot I need to tell you, and not much time. We need to find somewhere where we can rest, it's going to be night soon, and there are some pretty strange animals on this planet." I looked at her and started to walk in a direction that seemed like it might provide us with some sort of civilization.

"This PLANET, Hitomi! Hey, Hitomi, get your ass back here!" She yelled at me as I continued to walk. After she had stood there for a minute or so yelling at me, she finally decided to follow.

Yukari caught up to me and gave me a death glare I swear I had only seen in movies. "Wow, you look really pissed right now…" I said to her almost sarcastically.

"Pissed doesn't even begin to describe how... PISSED I am right now!" she yelled.

We continued to walk in the direction that I had chosen in silence. Finally after about three minutes, I couldn't stand it anymore. "Fine. I'll tell you the whole story!" We walked for about half an hour and I told her the entire story of what had happened four years ago when I was 15. "And for some reason, we are back. I don't know why, I didn't want to come back, I was perfectly happy where I was, for once, and now I'm back on this damn planet!"
At that moment, we finally started to see lights of a village, "see, I told you there was civilization in this direction!"
"Yeah, after we walked for a billion hours!" retorted Yukari.

"It was more like a half-hour, so don't be so dramatic. Besides, we have to be on good manners now, we need a place to stay for the night, and yelling at me won't get you anywhere fast here."

We quietly approached the village, it was just starting to turn dark, and so some people were still out getting ready for the night. As we entered the small settlement, people were staring at us as if we were aliens, which, in reality, we were. We walked up to a middle-aged woman to ask for directions to a near inn or something of the sorts. If there was anything I had learned from my past here, it was to trust middle-aged women. For some reason, they were just nicer than everyone else.

"Hello, Ma'am," I began, "my friend and I were wondering if there was an inn around here?"
She smiled at me and simply replied "Oh no dear, but if you need a place to stay, I'm certain that you and your friend could spend the night at my place!"
Wow. That was simple enough… Who'd of thought that the first old lady I go talk to would offer us a place to stay for the night, "Oh thank you very much ma'am! We are very grateful for this!"

"Just follow me dear," the woman smiled at me and then turned in the direction of her home.

I looked at Yukari and we both exchanged looks of shock at how easy that was, and followed the woman.

We entered her home, and she got us some blankets for the night and gave us an extra bed that we could share. She then went down to the kitchen where we heard her talking with her husband, "Why are you letting those two girls spend the night here!"
"Oh dear, you remember nothing do you! One of those girls was very close with King Van a couple years back, and tomorrow night is the ball, and as King, he is certain to attend. If we bring them, this could really help us with our problems! Think of it dear!"

Hitomi hadn't heard the entire conversation, only a few sparse words like tomorrow night, ball and bring them. "Hmm, doesn't sound to bad does it Yukari? Yukari? Ugh, whatever…" Yukari had already fallen asleep… I don't know how she does it. We had been in bed for a minute, and she was already out like a doorpost. "Well," I thought, "I may as well join her." So I rolled on my side and went to sleep as well. Tomorrow was sure to be an interesting day.

--

I awoke the next morning to the smell of cooking breakfast. I turned over, and poked Yukari till she was awake, "what do you want! I was dreaming of my prince!" She beamed. She was obviously in a happier mood than she was last night. Maybe the idea of Gaea was growing on her. It definitely wasn't growing on me though, that's for sure.

"The lady is already making breakfast, we should get down there, and I don't want us to be rude guests."
"Fine…" Yukari grumbled as we both got out of bed and got dressed into the clothes that we were wearing yesterday.

We walked down the hall to find the woman in the kitchen making eggs, toast and bacon. She looked up at us and smiled, "would you two like some breakfast!"

"Sure!" we both replied in unison. Obviously we were both hungrier than we wanted to admit.

"Oh, I have a proposal for you two! Tonight there is a ball, and my husband and I were wondering if you would like to attend? If you don't have anything to wear, don't worry, we have some of our daughters clothes here still, and you can wear those!" She beamed at us, she seemed too eager about this, but whatever. I didn't want to be on this planet anyways, but I may as well enjoy myself while I'm here.

Yukari got looked at me with massive excitement in her eyes. We obviously all knew what her answer was. "Sure, we will stay," I replied, attempting to smile sincerely. I had never liked things where I had to get all gussied up, and this just seemed to have something more to it besides it just being a ball.

We spent the rest of the day doing chores for the woman, I mean, what else could we do to repay her generosity, considering that our money would mean absolutely nothing to her. Throughout the day we found out more about her, her name was Eugenie Bennet, she had been living in this town her whole life, and the house that they lived in was descended from her husband's family.

--

Finally, the time came for us to start getting ready for the ball. Eugenie took us to what appeared to be her daughter's closet and let us choose from a variety of gowns.

We had gotten ready, and were finally ready to leave. Eugenie's husband had fixed up the wagon and we all loaded on and proceeded to where the ball was to be held. It was apparently in the capital city, at the king's palace. Fair enough, I thought, just because it's a king's castle doesn't necessarily mean that it's Van's castle… Whatever, I'm determined just to have a good time tonight. No matter what, or who is there.

It took us only about forty minutes to get the city. There was no denying it, we were in Fanelia, and this was Van's castle. This was Van's party. "Fuck," I said out loud.

"What's the matter, Hitomi?" asked Yukari.

"You know that guy that I told you about? Well, I'm pretty sure that we are about to see him again."
"Oh, that king guy? Pff, you have nothing to worry about Hitomi. There are going to be loads of girls there, and you look different now anyways. Your hair is way longer, and you are in a fancy gown!" She said, trying to make me feel better, without any avail.

"Ha yeah, and you never know, he might even be dead now! I have nothing to worry about, at all!" I said sarcastically.

We pulled up to the doors of the castle and got out of the wagon. We headed up the stairs with Eugenie, and entered the grand ballroom. There was no sign of Van, it seemed like we would be fine. Why would he show up to this anyways? Yukari grabbed me and we started to mingle with the other people there. After walking around for about a half-hour, I saw a familiar face. Could it be? No way, it was Merle!

"Yukari, I'll be a second, I see someone I know." I said as I walked mindlessly away from her. Yukari was having too much fun to even realize that I was leaving her anyways, so it really didn't matter. "Merle? Merle!" I yelled overtop of the music playing in the background.

The cat-girl turned around, and I was right, it was Merle. Only, she wasn't a little cat-girl anymore, she was now a fully-grown cat-woman! "Hitomi? Is that really you? How did you get back here! Wow! It's so good to see you again! I missed you so much! You look… you look like you fit in here! Where did you get those clothes!" She didn't even bother for a reply before she grabbed me in a huge hug and kept nattering at me about what had happened over the past four years. While in the middle of her long speech, a royal trumpet sounded, and two people started to enter.

"Oh, it's Van and Folken! They finally arrived!" Grinned Merle.

"Oh great, just who I wanted to see…" I said enthusiastically. "You know," I thought to myself, "it might not be as bad as I'm making it out to be… I should just go talk to him, be civil, and get it over with…"

"Do you want to go say hi or something Hitomi?" Merle grinned. She obviously had no idea how not looking forward to this I was.

"Sure, one second though, I'm going to go grab Yukari. She will probably want to meet these people that she has heard to much about."

I grabbed Yukari and went over to Merle. We followed her through the large group of people dancing, and made our way up to the front of the hall. "Lord Van, Lord Folken, I would like you to meet Yukari, and I do believe that you remember Hitomi!"

Folken smiled at me and seemed genuinely happy to see me, and then I looked at Van. There was a look of what almost seemed to be disgust, and all I got was a cold reply of "Hello Hitomi."

Nuh Nuh Nuh! That's my attempt at a cliffhanger. I know this chapter hasn't really gotten into any fun stuff yet, but I need to build up the story, otherwise it would have no substance. But, I'll try to update soon. I'm not promising though, my school load is pretty busy and I have two essays I have to write, but I'll try to update ASAP! Reviews appreciated! And if you are going to criticize, be nice!