Ending of Chapter Eight:
Hitomi stepped back. The floor rumbled under her weight, then suddenly collapsed with a loud crash. "Van!"
Without a second thought, Van dove in after her and his wings burst from his back. He flattened them to his sides as he dove down to reach her. He grabbed Hitomi's outstretched hand and pulled her to his chest as they continued floating down through the black hole.
Hitomi had a look on her face that Van couldn't describe. "Are you all right?" he whispered.
Hitomi smiled at him and reached up to caress his face. "My angel…"
Blackness engulfed her.
Well, that was where you guys left off, so here is the next chapter! Enjoy! I'M SORRY ABOUT THE WAY THE BEGINNING IS! I TRIED TO FIX IT AND IT DIDN'T WORK, BUT PLEASE JUST IGNORE IT AND READ THE CHAPTER! THANKS! Chapter NineAngel.
She had called him an angel.
Her angel.
Van studied Hitomi's sleeping face as his restless thoughts raced through his mind. They were in a cave of sorts. It was more of an underground tunnel made from earthen walls. After Van had caught her, he and Hitomi had floated through an endless black hole while his wings steadied them. They had landed at the bottom and Van was surprised to find that it was like mud tunnels that had been formed long ago and had stood against the test of time.
It was damp and cool, but huddled together, Van was certain that he and Hitomi received enough heat to keep them safe from freezing to death. He had wrapped both his and Hitomi's cloak around them and was now gently holding the sleeping Hitomi in his arms. Every time she would shiver, he would tighten his grip on her, willing her discomfort to disappear.
"My angel…"Hitomi's sweet voice floated through his mind over and over again. He stared at the wall across from him as he thought. He honestly didn't know what to think of her calling him an angel. He was anything but that, he knew, but he had this uncomfortable, no not uncomfortable, unexplainable feeling in his chest that he could only remotely identify as…relief?
It relieved him that she didn't think him a demon because of his heritage. He had learned long ago to be proud of what he had been given. His mother and father had taught him that being different didn't mean you were given the right to be hated. It just meant that you were different, and being different was a gift, not a curse.
Of course, that hadn't saved his mother, father, and brother from being slain by the emperor. The emperor had attacked his village in where the place was once known as Fanelia. The emperor had slaughtered everyone. Man, woman, child, it didn't matter. They were all killed. All of them except for Van. His brother, Folken, had locked Van in the village cellar where all of the winter meant was stored. He had heard the screams as his friends and family had died, only being able to see a small amount through the cracks in the boards.
The emperor's men had found him later, and he was beaten, and then sent to a slavery village. From the age of seven to the age of thirteen, he had slaved away, vowing vengeance for his slain family. At the end of his thirteenth cycle, he managed to kill a guard by grabbing the man's dagger—the very same dagger Van had given to Chid—and escape. Dryden and the other rebels found him only a month later and nursed his physical wounds back to health.
He was soon appointed as a leader over a small group of villages where his home had once stood and vowed that no one, the emperor or anyone else, would ever take what belonged to him again.
Hitomi stirred in his embrace and his gaze shifted to her. Her eyelids were fluttering, a sign that she was waking up. He loosened his hold on her and watched as her eyes opened.
Hitomi felt warm. She didn't think she had ever felt this warm before in her entire life.
Thump…
Her eyes shot open. What on Gaea was that?
Thump…
Was that a heartbeat? She lifted her head and was met by gorgeous chocolate brown eyes. Van?
"Are you all right?" Van asked.
Hitomi blinked out of her stupor and managed to answer. "Yes," she said. A breeze flew past them. Hitomi shivered and resisted the urge to snuggle closer to Van's warmth. "Where are we?" she asked.
"It appears we landed in some sort of underground tunnel system," Van answered as he stood up. "Perhaps it was used once as an escape route."
Hitomi nodded and let Van pull her to her feet. He stared at her and opened his mouth as though to say something, but quickly closed it again. He turned away.
"The wind is coming from the north," he said. "If we go against it, perhaps we can find a way out of here."
Hitomi nodded and shivered as another breeze swept by. She hugged herself to contain her shivers. "It's so dark," she commented. "I can barely see a thing."
"Your eyes will adjust in a minute or two," Van told her absentmindedly.
Hitomi looked at him and saw that he was looking at something that he held in his hands. She stepped closer to him and got a closer look. "What is that?" she asked, squinting her eyes.
"The map," Van said. "I'm trying to figure out where we need to be."
"How can you see it?" she asked.
"I have dragon blood in me," he explained. "I can see in the dark."
Well that was something new, Hitomi thought. What else didn't she know about him? All she really knew about him was that he was a draconian. She got a sudden image of beautiful white wings and Van's outstretched hand grabbed hers and being pulled into his arms. Had that really happened? She couldn't remember. All she could remember was running into the Between building because Dilandau and his soldiers were waiting outside. And then the floor had caved in, and that was it. How had they ended up in this dark, cold and forsaken place? She was suddenly taken out of her thoughts by Van's voice.
"I think we need to be in some place called the 'Wind Tunnels' or the 'Black Tree'," he said. "I can't be sure. The writing is sort of bunched together."
He felt Hitomi shivering and looked at her. "Are you all right?"
Hitomi nodded, but hugged herself tighter. "I-it's j-just a l-little c-c-cold."
Van thought the breeze felt perhaps a little cool, but with his dragon blood, he wasn't as sensitive to the cold or hot like other people were. He shrugged off his jacket and handed it to her.
"W-won't y-you g-get c-c-cold?" she asked.
"No," was all he said.
Hitomi took the jacket with a quiet "thank you" and slid her arms inside. His scent and warmth made her feel safe and warm. The jacket was big on her, but she didn't care. She took a deep breath and the scent of the outdoors, of fresh fields hit her senses. She closed her eyes. Who knew a jacket could smell so good?
She opened her eyes to find Van smirking at her. She could feel her face heat up and she lowered her eyes. When she finally got the courage to look up again, he wasn't paying her any attention. He folded the map and reached over and placed in on an inside pocket of his jacket that Hitomi was hugging tightly.
"Let's go," he said.
He began leading the way to where the wind was coming from. He lead and Hitomi followed in silence. The tunnel was full of twists and turns that it was easy to get incredibly lost. After a while, Van stopped when the tunnel forked off into two separate tunnels. He waited and sure enough the wind came again, telling him to go in the left tunnel. He turned around to tell Hitomi and stopped cold. She was gone.
"Hitomi?" he called.
Silence.
"Hitomi!"
"Van!" came the fear-filled reply.
Van ran toward her voice and his heart nearly stopped when he found her. She was sitting in a ball on the ground looking so lost that an amazing wave of protectiveness ran through Van as he looked at her.
"Van…" she whispered.
He kneeled down and touched her clenched hands. She screamed and tried to scramble away. Van grabbed her and pulled her against his chest. She was freezing.
"Shh," he whispered soothingly. "It's all right. It's just me."
Hitomi calmed down instantly. She tried to bury herself into his chest to get closer to his warmth. She was shivering so badly that she could barely talk. "I-I-I c-c-can't s-s-see."
Van held her closely for a moment so that she would lose her fear and some of her tremors. "Can you walk now?" he asked in concern.
Hitomi nodded against his chest and Van helped her to stand. He took hold of her hand and encased it tightly within his own. Leading the way once more, he followed his original path and went in the left tunnel.
The wind began to pick up. He could feel Hitomi shivering. He tugged her to his side and wrapped his arms around her while they continued walking. The tunnel suddenly opened into a huge earthen room and the wind stopped.
There was a huge black tree in the middle of the room and Van half-carried, half-drug Hitomi to it. He set her down beside it and grabbed her hands, rubbing them, trying to get some feeling back to them.
Hitomi's lips were blue and she looked at him with half-closed eyes. He shook her to wake her up. "Stay awake, Hitomi," he said sharply.
Hitomi's eyes snapped open and then started to close again. Van looked around and thought fast. At the base of the tree were some rocks and there were some dead limbs hanging limply from the tree.
Quickly, he broke off the limbs and put them in a pile, and then he grabbed the rocks. Holding the rocks over the limbs he struck them together until a spark fell down and the limbs ignited.
Van discarded the rocks, then turned back to Hitomi. He sat down and placed her between his legs so that she could acquire more warmth between him and the fire.
"Stay awake, Hitomi," Van said.
"Van," Hitomi groaned softly.
"That's right," Van said. "Talk to me."
"'Bout what?" she whispered, barely awake.
"Anything," Van said. "Everything. What do you want more than anything in the whole world?"
"You," she whispered.
Van froze.
"My hands hurt," she cried before he could say anything.
He grabbed her hands and held them still. "The ache will go away in a minute, Hitomi," he said. "What did you say that you wanted more than anything in the whole world?"
Hitomi snuggled closer to his chest. "I don't remember." She snuggled even closer and sighed. "You're so warm."
Her even breathing told Van that she was asleep while he held her. Had she meant what she said? Surely she didn't. She didn't know what she was saying, did she?
Van mentally shook his head and leaned back against the tree. She was barely lucid. She didn't know what she was thinking about and that was that. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind. He really needed some rest.
Above the sleeping two, a shadow sat atop the black tree watching them. Its yellow eyes blinked in fascination. It had been a long time since anyone had come to the black tree. Slowly, the shadow slithered down the tree and looked more closely at the two. They looked so odd, sleeping like that. Hitomi shivered and the shadow looked at her. Its yellow eyes suddenly brightened and it let out an unearthly giggle.
The shadow formed two hands and placed them beside Hitomi and Van's heads. A yellow light surrounded the dark hands and then the shadow switched the hands. When the light died down, the shadow stepped back and watched the two once more. They didn't move.
"Dream…" the shadow whispered in their minds. "Dream of one another's darkest secrets and know your deepest fears…"
The shadow slithered farther away then disappeared. Its unearthly giggle echoed in Van and Hitomi's minds as they slept on.
Wow! Talk about a chapter that took a while! And for some reason it was so hard to write! Arggh! I had so better NOT be getting writer's block! I will be so mad!!
Anyway, I know it was short, and I know it was without romance, but please review! Thanks!
Now, on a lighter note, the MAJOR romance between Van and Hitomi should pop up in the next chapter or the chapter after that!! Well, don't forget to review!!
Luv ya, Tevrah! ^_^
P.S. Could anyone explain to me what Final Fantasy X is all about? I've heard a little about it, but I don't really know all that much, but it looks like so much FUN! Is it? What's it about? Who are the characters? You know, stuff like that! Thanks! ^_^
P.S.S. Could anyone tell me what Final Fantasy X-2 is about? Thankies! ^_^