Wow I got 5 more reviews then I expected! In total I got… 5. Okay I'm thinking of doing some interactive fun-ness. The fist 3 people that review this chapter will have short cameos in the next Chapter. How's that sound? All you have to do is be one of the first three to tell me a brief description of how you would like to be seen (what you look like and a bit of your personality so I can place you.).
Disclamer; I do not own Escaflowne! But what I do own is that I can make Bandai look like jerks out of jealousy.
Far From Home
Chapter 3
The sickening lurch of fear that comes with the realization that the joy you felt a moment before has tricked you not to see the big picture. Correction, the big apocalyptic picture. There it was, exactly what she spent every night of the past year wishing to see. The velvet night illuminated by the second moon, enchanting and mystic nestled between the inky canvas of the sky and the stark silver moon.
"Gaea?" Mamoru chirped "That's not what they are calling it on the news."
"News?" Hitomi choked out a small squeak before sprinting out of her room. She clattered down the stairs clumsily, hurdled over the banister with ease, landing gracefully next to her father on the sofa.
"Hitomi what is the rush? You're not usually this exited about the news. Is something wrong?" He looked worried but then again he though she was going a bit nutty anyways.
"Mamoru said that 'asteroid' is on the T.V did I miss the segment?" She tried to act as if it was interesting and nothing else. If he suspected she would use it to make him believe "that nonsense about another world" He'd turn the program off rather then give her room to argue.
"You just missed it dear."
"Well, it might come up in discussion at school. May I…" She trailed off holding out her hand for the remote.
"Alright I'll be in the other room when you're done." He gave her a side long glance before shrugging it off and proceeding into the kitchen to speak with her mother. Knowing her luck it would be about banister vaulting and broken limbs/furniture.
Hitomi pressed the back arrow on the remote stating "God I love TiVo." She watched the images speed backwards. The anchor's mouth flapped open and close like a hooked fish. "There!" She pressed play absorbing Earth's take on their not so new neighbor.
The fish man spoke with such enthusiasm you would think he was telling the world 'he' was having a baby. "Astronomers announced today the discovery of the largest object sighted in our solar system since Pluto was named the ninth planet in 1930. You don't even need a telescope to see it. It appeared faint at first and became more and more solid as the day progressed. The mysterious object is so close to us that the Moon is exactly centered between us and it.
Why no one has seen this before? It is almost bright enough that any person could look out their window and gaze find it just past the dark side of the moon. At first believed to be and asteroid or object traveling past. Scientists now seem to believe that it has a fixed orbit around the earth. And has been named with the current temporary name '2003UB314', though it is traditional the person to first spot it chouses the name astronomers saw fist to rescue it from forever being called 'Brittney Spears is a Hoe' as the child that discovered it chose fit to call the latest scientific anomaly."
Hitomi was disgusted. 'Are all the other people on this planet idiots?' She thought venomously. Her finger poised on the power button froze at the information the fish man was now spewing.
" In light of the resent sightings of '2003UB314', the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has moved up the launch of the Hayabusa and re directed the flight pattern from an asteroid named 'Itokawa' 180 million miles from Earth, to '2003UB314' in our own backyard. NASA is also bidding to send their crew; it will be a race to earth's newest moon."
She was in shock. Her mind raced in circles screaming "Oh crap! Oh crap! They will find Gaea habitable. Then people will start trying to change and 'modernize' it destroying the balance of things. Oh crap! People are going to think they own Gaea and destroy it because they've already killed this planet. Oh crap! What if the villagers get scared and kills an astronaut, it would be war! Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap. Calm down Hitomi. Breathe in breathe out. Relax and think, what is it that I can do to stop this mess. I know what I can do! NOTHING! Absolutely nothing! Now that's not true, I can tell Van he'll know what to do. He is better with crisis then I am. Van always keeps his cool even in battle… well there was that one time, when he killed all the Dragon Slayers and got consumed by death. Or the time he blood bonded with Escaflowne and nearly died. Okay so maybe Van gets carried away and is not the best person to ask advice from, but he is all I have."
Hitomi hopped of the couch and sprinted up the stairs, around the corner and into her room. She shut the door behind her, retrieved Van's feather from the pouch that once held her tarot cards. Sliding the window open she climbed nimbly out and onto the roof. With graceful ease Hitomi scaled to the top of the highest eve with the familiarity of daily habit. She plopped down, her eyes unaccustomed to seeing Gaea where it was hidden before.
"Van, can you here me?" She reached out not with her hands but with her mind. With little effort the link would connect and their conversation would be no different then a two way radio, but not this time. All Hitomi received back was static, white noise both distant and incoherent where Van's voice should have been. "Van?" She tried again with no more luck then before.
Then the thought hit her. "What if something happened over there as a result of the chaos here? Was Van even alright?" Tears burned her eyes yet she refused to shed them. "All I wanted was to go home. Now I may end up destroying the only place I belong, and the only person that matters." A single hot salty tear escaped the prison of her lashes, sliding down her cheek to splatter on the worn and tired feather in her hand.
A bright light exploded out of the feather like blue fire. It shot into the sky like a comet streaking towards the stars. The pillar hit Gaea hard, but just as quickly as it started it was gone leaving Hitomi momentary blind.
"What did I do to make you cry this time?"
She froze, eyes wide trying to figure out how it had happened.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten me already. Or is it that you are fixing to run off with that Amano fellow." He teased playfully.
"Oh Van!" Hitomi spun around to face the king of Fanelia and her one true love. She threw her arms around his neck borrowing her face into his shoulder. Tears of joy overpowering the ones of sorrow and frustration were wept soaking his red shirt.
"I missed you Hitomi." He held her close breathing in the sent of her hair. "I'm very happy to see you, but there is one question that comes to mind."
"Yes?" She said raising her face to look up at him. In the year away from him Van must have hit a growth spurt putting him nearly half a foot taller then her. He was still and toned as ever but had broadened to look less lanky and more like the man he will become.
They both blushed realizing the feel of their chests pressed together, her soft firm one against his muscular one. "Where are we?" He managed to get out past his embarrassment among other things.
No sooner had Hitomi opened her mouth they were answered by some one else. "Sis Mom sent me out with your jacket. She says you're gonna catch cold." Mamoru stated bounding onto the roof. He stopped mid-step to look over Van, grinning. "I guess you plenty warm, ne Hitomi?" He went back to the window before they could respond. "Mom Hitomi doesn't need her jacket she's up here with a BOY!" He called inside.
The couple separated blushing. "Van, meet Mamoru my little brother the pest."
To Be Continued…
Sorry about the news segment. The information was taken from several sites that I forgot to write down. The original name for Gaea was going to be making fun of Shoji something or other the original writer. Okay you know what I want you to do now… well after hunting down Shoji.
Read and review or I'll send my rabid fan girl 13 year old posse after you!