There and Back again

GA1: ya... school + band + work +college class equals no free time

SD: got that right sister...

GA1: o shut it...

SD: except I don't have a college class... so I have more free time... Maybe that's why we got so a head on my part and behind in yours... giggles

GA1: death……

Disclaimer: Does it really look like we poor fan girls really own this great anime? Good... Then you have no reason to sue us. However we do own our respective characters and story plot:

Spirit Dancer: Aiko, Shiva

Glass Angel1: Ayane, Fira, Merlin and any other character that I must create for the production of this story.

All rights reserved

Summary:

Not just an ordinary retelling of Escaflowne. Two girl's wish away their lives of family abuse, only to find their wish answered. Destiny plays its hands hard as these two friends find themselves caught up in a war of a world they barely know, only to be torn apart along the way. Will they be able to overcome their trouble pasts, and save this new world for its own destruction? Or will their pasts become its means of destruction?

Category: Action/Adventure/Romance

xVxVxVxVx; same place different point of view

xXxXxXxXx ;scene change

italic; vision

XoX ; Flashback

Chpt. 25 Foreshadows

The morning light seeped into the room; however it was probably the warmth of that light that woke her up. Aiko's head hurt, the pain pulsing behind her eyes, like she had been crying before she fell asleep. That always happened when she cried herself to sleep, which was a rarity now in days. It took a few minutes for the discomfort of where she was at to make its way up towards her tired brain. She was staring a crossed the red fabric of the pillow, one hand resting in front of her face. Last night had been horrible, stupid Ayane. It was all her fault that she cried herself to sleep. Aiko moved her legs some what when she realized that she was one the floor. Did she fall off sometime during the night? O, well Aiko closed her eyes again, shutting out the morning light. She cuddled a little more with her red pillow. Maybe she could sleep in before anything else started. The last thing she remembered about yesterday wasn't very pretty. Aiko grumbled something as she shifted to make herself more comfortable on her red pillow, seeming she had no desire to get back up on the bed.

Wait a minute…… The Mysticer cracked an eye open to look at her red pillow. Wasn't the pillow white before?

"What do you think you're doing?" Aiko looked over at Merle to see her tail puffed up. She groaned as jade eyes shut again…it was way too early for this…

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm sleeping…and I'd like to continue for a couple more…hours…" her voice dropped with every word as she drifted off to sleep. Merle hissed, her tail getting bigger.

"No! You're going to get up off of him now!" Aiko growled at Merle…it was too early to be yelling…wait…him? It was then that she felt her pillow moving up and down slightly, in slow deep movements. Aiko froze before pushing herself up on her hands and knees, to get a better look. Her eyes widened as her fell to side of her "pillow". Lying not two feet next to her was Van……still sleeping, one hand was prompt behind his head. How the hell had he gotten there? Maybe it was a good thing that Ayane wasn't there…she'd be having a hayday with this.

"I can't believe you! I take my eyes off of you for just one night and this is what I find! You better not have done anything to him or el-"

"Merle, shut up…" Both girls turned their eyes to the boy lying in the center of the room. He had his right hand over his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them though it seemed that sleep wasn't going to leave him too quickly. The young king wasn't a morning person. Aiko couldn't help but smirk as she glared at Merle.

"Thank you…I thought she'd never shut up…"

"Why you litt-"

"Merle!" Merle's mouth shut like a trap as she looked at Van, confusion written all over her face. Van sat up slowly, still trying to wake up fully. Aiko, being a morning person, was already wide awake, and grinning a smirk that didn't reach her eyes. Emotions of this type were long suppressed, but she could still fake them at the right times. Now sitting up, the young king stretched out his arms, one of which she had been sleeping one. The he went to rubbing his neck, ignoring the shocked cat girl. "Gods, I thought you'd never let go of my neck last night…" Merle's eyes widened as the words sunk in. She glared hard at Aiko, whose grin had vanished, and was replaced by a look of utter confusion.

"You wouldn't let go of his neck? What in Gaia is wrong with you?!" Merle continued to yell at her as Aiko looked at the ground, trying to remember what happened. The last thing she remembered was talking to the Prince Shid and figuring out that Ayane had died…Aiko froze, the news hitting her once again. Merle's voice was now nothing but a murmur as that single thought echoed in her head. Ayane was dead… Merle stopped yelling, and was now looking at Aiko, anger mixing with confusion on her face. Van looked over at Aiko, when Merle had paused in mid sentence. Everything started coming back to her…she had run into Van, and he had brought her back here, but she hadn't let go of him… Aiko took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. There was no way in hell she was going to let the Cat girl see her cry. No way in bloody hell. Suddenly an arm wrapped itself around her again, and Aiko found herself face first in the rough red fabric of Van's shirt. He was still sitting facing away from her, so the side of her face was resting on his shoulder. Tears fought to be free but in her confusion and angry they found no release.

"There's no need to cry anymore….." His voice sounded kind of distant, as if the words weren't his own. Actually they weren't, that was something Ayane would say. But normally those words were followed by the damn sentence: 'That proves that they are getting to you'. She always hated that lecture. Pulling her jade eyes away from his shirt, she looked up at him. Van was looking across the room to the open window; the solemn look was not one she was familiar with him having. "You can't change the past, so look to the undecided future…" He chuckled slightly as he looked down at her. "Ayane said that to me, before that little battle back in Asturia when King Aston wanted to show his 'friendship'." There was a sound of storming feet as Merle walked out of the room, angered by being ignored. Sighing Van looked away from Aiko for a moment to look at the still moving blinds. He started to unravel his arm around Aiko. "Great… Now she's mad at m-" Aiko reached out and took hold of his shirt, the tears finally broke through and made their way down her cheeks. Van looked down at her in confusion, trying to free his shirt from her grasp, however her grip was like iron, refusing to let go of its hold. "Aiko…" She shook her head, as the tears came down faster, making small dark stains on her pants.

"Don't… leave…" Her voice cracked as a sob escaped from her. Damn Ayane…why did she have to go and die on her like that? No more lectures, no more running away to Ayane's little apartment to escape her parents, no more of the 'holy lighter' telling her of her daily fortune, and little dares that Ayane would present to her. The thoughts and images kept coming as the tears fell. Damn you, Ayane….Damn you…

xXxXxXxXx

"I don't believe her……" Dilandau grumbled to himself as he held down on the controls of his Alseides. The damn woman, not only does she go and have a heart attack, then she has to go and heal Miguel. Stupid girl, he was really going to have to make sure that he bans her from doing that anymore. Accordingly to Folken's diagnostic of her little gift, she obtains scars that match whatever she cures. Like Shesta's hand, she held that scar for a long time. After a while though they seem to disappear, the scar on her hand was barely noticeable. The one on her shoulder had also disappeared, but then again he still didn't know where that one had come from. That was beside the point though! The silver haired general growled as he pulled on his controls to move the Alseides with the new wind current. Miguel was going to get it so bad when he got back. The doctors may be saying that he shouldn't go any hard training for a while yet until he goes through rehabilitation, but that didn't mean the redhead would get any with not doing anything. No, Dilandau could think of a lot of paper work that needed to be done. O yes, all that stuff he had let gather up for the past five months since they burned Fanelia.

But that limp Ayane had when she saw them off the hanger… That was something that was really disturbing him. After she had healed Shesta's hand, the moving ability in her hand wasn't very good. In fact she was still slightly clumsy with that hand. How long would this limp of her last? A month like her hand? But even now that she could move it better, he could still see her fighting to get that hand to work right. Was there a lasting effect that she would suffer each time she did that? Someone was saying something over the com system, not that he was really paying attention. He could see Freid pretty darn well, and like Folken had said, they looked pretty damn ready for them. Zaibach had better find its damn spy soon. And with luck, not only would this whole invasion go horribly wrong, but maybe he'd get a shot at little boy wonder again. This time he wasn't going to let his thirst for revenge get the better of him. His scar might still hurt like hell, but he wasn't going to let that blind him in combat. Not if he really wanted to ruin his own reputation.

Especially since the other 'Province Children' would be here.

xXxXxXxXx

"I so can not believe he is making me do this……" Miguel grumbled as he plugged in another wire. Working on the Vione's bridge was BORING! He must have really done something to tick him off now. Even though the new evaluation of his leg indicated he would be able to pilot again, Dilandau-sama still seemed mad about something. Probably because of little Healer's limp. When she left his medic room, she had to use the wall to support herself. Out in the hanger she had walked perfectly well on her own, minus the small limp she now had, but after the Alseides had launched she had collapsed against a wall. The Strategoes didn't look very happy either, so there must be more to her little heart attack then what he was saying. He could hear the voices in his headset as he held it to his ear as he rerouted the wiring. This was the most stupid assignment he could ever get.

"Iron squadron has begun to move…" One of the other techie voices stated from their station.

And so the battle starts… Sighing, Miguel moved another wire. He so wished he could be out there with them. Refina was probably having a ball taking his spot on the field. The damn girl, he was so going to have to make sure to drag Guimel into helping him with whatever Dilandau-sama had in store for him to do. The slayer did owe him for a few things. That should get that damn girl back.

"Steel has breached front lines…"

Wow that was fast…. The redhead switched another com line, coming across Shesta's. The damn blond was probably having a ball showing off to day. Tara was one solo recon with the archers unit. The blond seemed to be shouting something at the third wing cadet, looked like that four hours of practices yesterday didn't help those boys out very well.

"Bronze is on the move through second front…"

"Iron has breached castle walls…" Flipping the wires quickly, Miguel picked up on the Iron squadron, as one of the majors ordered their soldiers through. The Dragonslayers shouldn't be too far behind them.

"Miguel, where's Dilandau at?" The redhead glanced up over his shoulder to the higher platform where the Strategoes was standing, over looking the battle. Flipping the wires back to the com frequency, Miguel pressed his interception key that allowed him to talk to whatever unit his frequency was on.

"Dragonslayer Commander, report…"

"I'm in the castle walls… but there's something not right about this… They aren't putting up much of a good fight…" The red-eyed general's voice came on fuzzy over the link. "I don't like the feel of this… Tell Folken that I'm going to stand by, let the Iron morons go in first…Something's just not right here…"

"Dragonslayer unit has stopped advancing…" The girl next to him stated, as she adjusted her radar to magnify the battle front in the castle walls. "Iron squadron has entered palace…"

"Miguel, what's Dilandau doing?"

"I'm not quiet sure, Strategoes… He reports that something is wrong…"

"Something…wrong?" The words from the older man seemed to linger slightly as he turned to look over the battle field from the open window casing of the bridge. "Smart move, Dilandau……"

"Iron Squadron reports entry to palace treasury…" The boy to Miguel's left somewhere said this was a really boring job. The redhead flipped his com off, shutting him out form speaking again to the soldiers in the field. There had to be something better that he could be doing right now instead of this. There was never any attraction on the bridge.

"Palace walls collapsing! Iron Squadron is trapped!" A shout came suddenly. The girl next to him redirected the range of her radar.

"Freid imperial ships are moving away from battle grounds, in the direction of Fortuna! I repeat, imperial ships are moving away from battle ground air space. Out of range of archer units!"

"Haha…Cute move Duke…" Dilandau's voice drifted over Miguel's headset. "You sacrificed your men, and ran like a dog…"

xXxXxXxXx

Aiko stared down at the castle grounds with emotionless eyes. Kneeling next to her was the young Prince Shid. Poor kid…He was crying for all the solders that had died, and the fallen castle.

"You shouldn't cry for them, Shid…" The Duke's voice rang through the Fried aircraft that they were all traveling on. "Look at their broken bodies… They all laid their lives down so that you could live…" A sob escaped from the small boy as he placed his small hands against the glass. Aiko's eyes narrowed as she turned to face the Duke.

"You know, for a Father you sure are cruel to your son… You could be a little nicer…he's only five…Or have you failed to recognize that?"

"Aiko!" Van exclaimed, slightly shocked at the comment. The whole room got quiet save for the small sniffs and sobs from the young prince. Aiko glared at the Duke once more before looking out over the broken country, arms crossed in front of her. She shook her head and mumbled something under her breath before becoming quiet. There was only one more sniffle from the young child before he wiped his eyes clear of their tears and held his head high.

"No... He's right Aiko... Crying will only dishonor their sacrifice... I will not let the soldiers of Fried die in vain." The young prince looked down seriously on the passing battle fields as they fly away from the capital. Aiko found herself puzzled by the child's sudden change in reaction. Where was Ayane when she needed her? So much about this world did not make sense, Aiko really need someone to explain this to her. Looking down to the distance past the ruins of the palace, she could see the Zaibach floating fortresses looming in the rising smoke. O that was right... There would be no more explanations.

Ayane was dead after all.

xXxXxXxXx

"Somewhere...In the dark bowels of the evil Zaibach Empire..." A female voice whispered in serious voice as she leaned against the railing over looking the large open chamber. This place was always dark, and nearly impossible to see if it wasn't for the large tubs of glowing green liquid that lined all the walls of the chamber. The glowing green stuff only made the place seem even creepier. Her curly platinum blond hair fell over her blue eyes as she looked forward in boredom, head resting in her hand that sat against the railing. The white uniform of hers seemed to take on a slight tint from the glowing green. There was a young man standing next to her that was dressed in a black uniform, much in the same style as hers. Dark hair lay on his head unevenly cut, his two dark brownish red eyes looking at nothing particular. He was leaning with his back against the railing that the platinum blond girl next to him was facing. His head was tilted to the side, making it able for him to look at what she was even though he cared not too.

"Why can't I see it? Where is my ideal future?!" An old voice boomed and echoed in the room.

"There is a crackly old fart, complaining for the umpteenth time..." She sighed and rolled her eyes as she studied the 'thing' that contained, and kept alive, the emperor of Zaibach. Who knew that such a feared empire was ruled by a shriveled up dinosaur? The old man's voice boomed again as he complained. The blond girl moved her free hand to clean out her ear as she looked on uninterested. "Someone really needs to turn down the volume on this guy..."

"Careful what you say, Celena..." Celena turned her head to face the new comer with little interest. Even when she recognized to the older man was she did not stand up to bow to him. No one, in her opinion, was worth her doing that. The dark gray hair fell down over the older man's green eyes as he studied her. The black cloak hid his body from view, not that she cared a whole lot. Looking away from him, Celena looked back to the machine that kept Emperor Dornkirk alive.

"It's not like he can hear me, Chancellor Merlin..." the girl shrugged, bored. "I mean, he's so fucking old, I doubt he can hear anything..." Chancellor Merlin moved to stand next to the young girl, looking solemnly at the empire. Tilting her head back to look at him, and with hope to find someone to bug, Celena studied him.

"So, Chancellor, what brings you down here anyways...? I'd figure you'd be too busy running the empire for the old fart to come down here and listen to him complain."

"Must you continue to call him that?"

"We-"

"Father, she'd call everyone that..." Celena turned her head away quickly from the Chancellor to look at the young man that stood next to her. He was looking forward now at one of the green glowing things. The blond girl stuck her tongue out at him.

"O, shut up! You two are never any fun!"

"What is blocking it? What can't I see my idea future?!"

"How long has he been going on like this?" Chancellor Merlin asked as he looked away from the aggravated young woman back to the Emperor.

"All morning Father..." The young male youth said as he pushed off of the railing to turn around to face what the topic of the conversation was on. The green glow seemed to change the color of his black uniform to an eerie color. He rested his head in his hand like Celena had been going earlier. "Even before the reports from the Strategoes came in..." The blond girl shuffled her feet a bit before turning to face the object that was the main point in the conversation.

"He's pissed off; I could have told you Fried wouldn't have it at the Palace... Fortuna is its oldest settlement." She shrugged a bit while putting her hands behind her head. "But, the old fart has been mumbling about something else that makes noooooo since what so ever..."

"Um?" The chancellor looked at the girl, who was currently looking at the nails of her left hand with some modem fascination.

"Something about... A draconian? But he keeps referring it to as 'different' somehow..." Looking away from her hand, she studied the large machine that sat in the middle of the room. Over head of it hung a large glass sphere, near by it a large telescope the Emperor was looking though. "I thought the only draconians were the Strategoes and his little brother, the dragon..."

"They are the only recorded draconians, Celena... That does not make them the only draconians left..." The young male mumbled in his hand. The blond girl chose to ignore him and continued to study the large sphere in the room.

"Did Folken ever send a report about the anomaly that happened in Fanelia twenty-four hours before the attack?"

"No Father..."

"Wait, what?" Celena turned quickly around to face the older man next to her. "What anomaly?"

"There was an anomaly that the madoushi record on the fate prognostic machine... Folken was asked to investigate it."

"So the Strategoes found nothing I take it?" Curiosity crossed the girl's face as she looked at the chancellor.

"Apparently not... But I have a feeling my young comrade is hiding something aboard that Vione of his..." Chancellor Merlin rubbed his chin as he looked onward deep in thought. "If that man has learned anything while he was a madoushi it was to keep secrets and use them as leverage for later..."

"So you think little Folken is hiding something again?" Celena's interest perked. "Want me to go spy on him?"

"Spy? Is that what you call that flirting act?" The young male rolled his eyes as he stood up.

"Hey!" Pouting, she punched the boy in the arm. "That's not fair!"

"No... Celena, I don't like it's time for you to go out just yet..." The chancellor replied as the three of them walked down the catwalk, away from the booming voice. "Dilandau still has a few more tries yet... But if the dragon is not captured soon..."

"Then it's my time to hunt?" The girl smiled. As they passed under a ledge, her eyes glow a faint green that matched that of the tubs that lined the walls the other sections of the catwalk.

SD: Hopefully our next update won't take two months... or three...

GA1: Ya... Marching season is finally over so my free writing time should come back... as long as my English class doesn't kill me

SD: ditto

Edited: 3/10/07