Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Escaflowne: All you need is Love, Isn't it?

Chapter 30

At the Palace in Palas, two days after the tournament

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In the garden behind the palace, Van and Hitomi sat on the lush grass as Hitomi undid the bandages on Van's hands.

"Oh my gosh! Their raw." She began undoing the other hand. "This one is even worse. And Allen's hands were the same?" She looked up to see Van nod. Shaking her head in disbelief she chastised him. "I can't believe you two went so for. Didn't it hurt at all during the match?"

Van shook his head with a faint smile.

"I can't believe it. Why would you go so far? It wasn't worth it." She stated.

"Yes." He said plainly causing her so gasp slightly and look up at him again. "It was worth it. It was your honor I was fighting for. No price is too great."

"Oh Van." She looked back down at his hands, her cheeks turning a bright red.

Having taken the old bandages completely off she balled them up and stuffed them in the sack she had just pulled out a fresh pair from. Grabbing the bottle of disinfectant she asked. "Do they hurt?"

The king simply shook his head.

"Really?" She replied skeptically as she poured the liquid onto his hands.

Flinching slightly and drawing in a quick breath, the king let an embarrassed smile cross his face, "Well, maybe just a little."

"Hmm." She smiled back at him, her skepticism still in tact. Closing the bottle, she grabbed one of the bandages and carefully wrapped his hand right hand once again then his left.

"There, all done." She smiled and leaned downward she placed a gentle kiss on the palm of each hand.

"Thank you Hitomi." He reached up with his right hand and gently stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers as he gazed into her eyes. Slowly her smile faded as they just sat in the midst of the garden, searching and finding each other's soul.

In her room on the third floor of the palace, Merle stepped away from the window, which gave her a clear view of the garden and lay down on her bed. Pulling the top pillow into her arms, quiet tears slowly rolled down the side of her face. "You promised Hitomi, you promised." She repeated to herself as she tried to force herself to fall asleep.

Later that night, on the roof of the palace, Van stood with Hitomi in his arms, her back pressed up against him and her arms over his, as they looked out over the city.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" She asked.

"Mmm hmm" was his only response as he tightened his hold around her just slightly.

Looking up at the moons she asked, "Van, has the moon been rising from the horizon or lowering?"

"Lowering, why?"

"It's still too high. We need to stay a few more days, maybe a week. Then everything will be alright." She stated.

"That's impossible, we leave the day after tomorrow." He told her.

"What?" She turned around in his arms. "But we can't. It's too dangerous." She warned.

"What are you talking about?" He looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Don't you remember? My vision. If we're at sea when the moon hangs low on the horizon we'll get caught by a terrible storm. We need to wait till the moon hangs low here, by then the storm will have passed and we'll be safe." She explained to him.

He shook his head. "But the store holds on the ships are all but full and most of what we have is perishable. If we wait a week, it will rot before we reach Fanelia. We'll just have to take our chances with the storm." He pulled her close to him, running his fingers through her hair and resting his cheek atop her head. "Don't worry, I'll protect you… and Merle. I won't let anything happen to the two of you."

Wrapping her arms around him she sighed softly and closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the feel of his touch. 'I hope you're right Van. I hope you're right.'

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AN: I know it's shorter than usual but it's just a bridge to get them to the ship and heading back to Fanelia. I was just looking back at chapter 6 where Hitomi had her vision and I read my AN there as well. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that the journey back from Asturia would be just 6 or 7 chapters from then. ^_^ Though I must admit, there were things I've added to the story that I didn't originally intend to have in it. But that's the wonderful thing about writing fiction. You can add or delete what ever you want as long is it feels right. There will probably be one more chapter before they board the ship to take them back to Fanelia. They have to say goodbye to all their friends of course. ^_^

As always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your comments and reviews. You help keep me inspired.

A. Amishi

PS: ACEN'03 was great!!!! I had a wonderful time. If you haven't gone to an anime convention yet, I strongly suggest you find the closest one to you and go. They may not all be as awesome as ACEN but unless it is a total fiasco, I'm sure you'll have a great time. ^_^