Les Guardiens du Puissance

by

Kris Black

DISCLAIMER: Escaflowne is the sole property of its creator and distributors. I do not own Escaflowne or any of the characters in the story that you recognize. The characters that you do not recognize, however, are my own; please do not use them without permission. This disclaimer applies to this chapter and this story in a whole.

AN: Okay, so it's been a while but stuff happens, and stuff did happen. I am sorry and will not make excuses for myself… I don't think that many people read author's notes anyways. Well, this chapter and the next chapter will be rather short because I'm trying to get this plot on the go. R&R.

The transition between someone the castle barely noticed to being Queen annoyed Hitomi a great deal. Before, she stayed in bed and took care of Ryu most of the time. Now, she was woken at sunrise so that her ladies-in-waiting (including the always vibrant Merle) could dress her properly. During these sessions of them getting her ready (for anything really) the girls had really bonded. Chiro, Asa, Kuni, and Emiko were really quite wonderful. They were all around Hitomi's age (sixteen-ish) and were great friends. Chiro was quite fair and had a shy attitude. Asa had dark hair and eyes, but was the happiest of the bunch – always smiling. Kuni was loud and sarcastic (not to Hitomi of course). Although she was a bit rough around the edges, Hitomi was sure that she'd make a fine lady one day. The last, Emiko, was extraordinarily beautiful. Hitomi was sure that she would have many offers of marriage as soon as she came completely out into society. However, Emiko didn't have much in the brains department, but she had a great personality.

She, of course, still refused to allow the young prince out of her sight unless he was with his father, Merle or Miliani. Once about three months ago, Van's good friend/advisor Darius had tried to hold Ryu. Hitomi had screamed, grabbed the baby from his arms, and ran from the room – locking them both in her and Van's bedroom. It had taken Van himself going into the bedroom and calming her down to ease her mind.

Of course, Hitomi's unwillingness to leave Ryu's side had caused quite a stir within the council; worried that their new queen would baby the Prince too much, that when he was older she would not allow him to get formal education and training. In fact, so drastic were some of the ideas of how to remedy the problem that Van had refused to attend meetings for a whole half a month. However, during that time the council had agreed on a solution – the queen must have another child so that her attention would be more divided. Van, of course, knew nothing of the plan.

The council had decided that they would hire a number of extra maids and butlers to be at the disposal of King Van and Queen Hitomi. That way, they could have more time to themselves. Of course, Van had been hesitant - but the council had assured him that it was to reduce some of the Queen's stress and to let her focus on her family.

On the day that Ryu turned six months old, Hitomi decided to take a long stroll throughout the castle while Van had some "father-son bonding time", or so he had called it. Hitomi didn't mind, however. It was good that even though Van was a king he could always make time for his son; plus Hitomi needed a little break, she admitted. Ryu had been quite fussy today.

Merle had shown Hitomi around the castle a bit before, but now Hitomi really wanted to explore. She knew where the basics were, but she wanted to discover every nook and cranny. She knew that she should probably be spending her time off sleeping and relaxing, but exploring was just too much fun to pass up. However, she was beginning to regret her decision, considering she was completely and totally lost in her own home.

"Your majesty," A shy, middle-aged maid asked as she approached the confused looking Queen, "Is anything wrong? You look lost."

Hitomi laughed merrily and admitted to the servant that she was, indeed, lost. After accepting the servants offer to show her back to familiar quarters, Hitomi asked her name and talked happily with her until she was back to a place she recognized. More then once, Hitomi was struck with a sense of foreboding; Akane, the maid, was sending off waves of an awful feeling, making Hitomi uncomfortable and wary within her presence. Hitomi couldn't have been happier to realize that she had known where she was.

"Thank you so much Akane," Hitomi smiled, "I appreciate this."

"Anything for her Majesty," the maid answered, bowed, then returned to what she had been previously doing.

Trying to shake off the foreboding feeling that something was approaching, Hitomi wrapped her arms around her body and made her way towards the nursery where she had left Van and Ryu. She needed to be with her family right now; the fear that something dreadful was about to happen kept building and building until her walk broke out into a run towards the nursery. Flinging the door open, she let out a breath that she had unconsciously been holding. Van and Ryu were perfectly safe, playing on the floor together.

"Hitomi, what's wrong?" Van asked as he saw her worried face. He stood up and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her in a caring manner.

"I have a bad feeling, Van," Hitomi confided as she squeezed him to her tightly, "Whenever something happy happens to us, something even more dreadful comes along. Van, I'm scared for my family."

"Hitomi," Van breathed out and pulled back from her to look her in the eyes, "I will protect you, both of you."

"I know," she whispered back, hugging him tightly once more.

Two weeks after Hitomi's terrifying experience, Hitomi was still a nervous wreck. She couldn't sleep at night and was constantly paranoid. The whole castle was worried about her, and rumours that the queen was beginning to go insane were beginning to spread around the kingdom. Merle did all that she could to calm her friend, but Merle herself was beginning to become afraid. Hitomi's predictions and feelings had never led them astray during the Great War, and they were usually closer to the truth then anyone cared to admit.

Hitomi lay awake just after Merle had left the room. Ryu had just fallen asleep and would remain that way for the rest of the night. Hitomi, herself, was beginning to feel weary. She had gotten little-to-no sleep within the past couple of weeks and it was taking its toll. Caring for a baby and getting no rest was really making an impact on her body. So, after staring into space for about an hour, Hitomi drifted off into the land of dreams.

The shutting of the heavy chamber door stirred Hitomi from her sleep.

'Van has finally stopped working,' Hitomi thought drearily as she turned in her bed.

She heard Ryu stir a bit in his bed, which was quite unusual he barely ever moved when he slept – just like his father. Hitomi heard Van walk over to the crib quietly, which struck another unusual note in her head; when the baby was asleep Van never disturbed him because he still remembered the last time he had done that and spent five hours trying to get his screaming son back to sleep. Then, Hitomi felt it. The impending doom, the dread and fear that ran down her spine, and the distinct smell of counterfeit – like the doppelganger from Palas…

Hitomi's eyes shot open and she saw a dark figure leaning over Ryu's crib.

"Get away from him!" she screamed at the figure and jumped out of bed. The figure turned to her, displaying the face of the older servant, Akane, from before, "You! I knew that there was something wrong with you!"

"There's nothing wrong with me Majesty," Akane replied, feigning innocence, "I simply heard his highness crying and decided to come see what the matter was…"

"Liar!" Hitomi yelled before taking a big breath to scream out for help from the guards, or even better, Van.

However, Akane was behind her in an instant, covering her mouth. Hitomi tried to fight against it, kicking, biting and anything else she could do to try and get away. She knew something was not right with this… thing. It certainly wasn't human. It had been a long time since she had last encountered a doppelganger, but she was almost certain that this is what the thing that was holding her was.

"That's not very queen-like," Akane said in her ear harshly as she bit his hand for the umpteenth time, "now be a good girl and be still. After all, you wouldn't want something happening to the poor little prince, would you?"

Hitomi went stiff at the mention of her son. What was this thing up to? What did she want? Where was Van?

"Good," Akane said when Hitomi stopped fighting.

Akane made a move away from Hitomi and towards the prince. Thinking as quickly as she could, she grabbed the doppelganger's arm and entered into her head – much like she had in Palas. She knew it was risky, and she knew that the last time that she had done this it had killed her, but she needed to protect her son at any price.

"Where am I?" the doppelganger cried out throughout the darkness of his mind.

"Reveal yourself, doppelganger," Hitomi said in a deep, trance-like voice and the form of the servant melted away into that of a doppelganger.

Hitomi's eyes went wide and glowed light pink before she released an astonished doppelganger's arm in the real world. She stumbled back, shocked at how easily her disguise was taken off. Hitomi looked the doppelganger in her fearful eyes and a heavy pulse poured from her body, driving the fake away from her child's crib before she fell down, dead.

Hitomi swayed slightly on her feet. The room was spinning and she didn't know how to stop it. Before she fell into a dark abyss, she could have sworn that the name "Van" escaped from her lips.

"Van!" Van heard Hitomi yell as he was walking towards his bedroom to finally get some rest. With his heart pounding faster then that of a cat's, Van ran to his bedroom quicker then he had ever run before in his life.

"Hitomi!" Van yelled as he tore open his door and looked at the scene in front of his eyes.

Ryu was sitting up, screaming in his crib. Van dreaded having to put him back to sleep after this ordeal. Looking around the room, he saw a body in the form of a doppelganger. Not certain as to what was going on, Van walked over to check for a pulse on the body. Not finding one, Van rushed over to his son to take him out of this room. That is, until he saw his unconscious wife lying on the floor.

"Hitomi?" he asked panicked as he ran over to her, getting down on his hands and knees in front of her to check for a pulse. He let out a breath that he wasn't aware that he was holding in when he felt the blood rushing through her veins. He lifted her up, placing her on their bed carefully before picking Ryu up and going out to the hall.

"Guards!" he yelled and five men were standing in front of him almost instantaneously, "I need you to get rid of this doppelganger. I found him dead a few moments ago in my room, keep it quiet. On the way, one of you send a healer here for the Queen – tell the healer that it is urgent."

"Yes Sir!" The guards said simultaneously before saluting and doing their duties.

Van attempted to calm Ryu, talking to him and bouncing him up and down while making funny faces – but nothing was working. Resorting to his final method, Van lay on the bed next to Hitomi and let Ryu crawl over to her. He was instantly happy again to be with his mother – Van always knew that his son would be a Mommy's Boy like he had been.

The healer had come and gone, saying that she Hitomi had passed out from dome sort of exhaustion and should be fine once she had her rest. Van was still unaware of what happened but he was getting more tired by the second, After finally calming down Ryu enough to put him back to sleep, Van posted four guards outside the door. He would figure out what conspired here in the morning when Hitomi woke up.

AN: That's all. Not much, but it's what it takes to get this story going. Don't forget to review.