Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or Rurouni Kenshin!

How will everyone react to Van's appearance?

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Allen grieved for his lost companion, knowing he couldn't go back to Gaea without him, but also because they had been the best of friends. Also the knowledge that Van didn't know how to swim didn't help either.

Sano stayed with him often, as he was doing now, having lost faith in his captain with such a heartless act. They hadn't found Van's body, but that didn't mean anything. His body could've sunk to the bottom of Davy Jones' Locker for all they knew. He didn't like the sound of that, so he hadn't voiced it to the knight.

There was a sudden splash on the starboard stern, followed by a loud coughing. The two went over to the sound, Sano calling, "Yahiko, are you throwing precious water over the side again? I'll have your hide if you are!"

They were shocked by the sight that met their eyes.

Van, soaked from head to toe, was standing there, shaking the water free from his hair. He coughed a little again, but didn't notice them.

"Van!" the pair shouted, running towards him.

The shaggy-haired boy looked up, only for Sano to put him in a headlock, mussing his hair with his fist. "Where did you come from?! I could've sworn I saw you drown!"

Van smiled a little and shrugged. "Perhaps it isn't my fate to die at sea."

Allen then hugged him tightly. "You scared me and the rest of the crew to death, thinking you were gone forever, eaten by that mermaid!"

"Allen, I missed you too. I was only gone for a couple days."

Sano then went running around the ship, knocking on doors and yelling that Van was back. The crew came up, giving their own sets of grievances over the fifteen-year-old's disappearance and sudden return, glad that he had survived.

The noise drew the attention of Kenshin, who had been thinking up another plan to trap the mermaid. A smirk came to his lips when he saw Van alive and well. So his hope was restored, since the mermaid hadn't harmed him. But in his experience, no one had been left alive without inconveniencing the mermaid somehow.

He would have to find out what Van had done to save his own skin. It must've been luck, because he couldn't think of anything else it could've been. The mermaid was more than just riches beyond a man's wildest dreams, so he must've stolen a scale from her, just like he himself had. It was the only probability.

Will Kenshin figure out what Van has? Will he capture the mermaid? What else will we find out about her?

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