Author's Note: After posting the last chapter, I got quite a number of hits! It makes me very happy to know that there are people who have kept up with my story from chapter one up until now, and for that I thank you for being a part of this experience. As for new readers, I hope I have given you something you will want to return to. :) I'd love to hear from all of you, so do write me if you get the chance! I'd like to know how my story is through your eyes. Thanks, and once again, it's another chapter. Enjoy!

XIV.

Merle's Mistake

"Hitomi!"

Van's piercing voice woke me with a start. Groaning, I propped myself up from the ground. Squinting towards the shadowy figure running towards the cave from broad daylight, I complained, "There better be a damn good reason why you're waking me up like this, Van Fanel."

He pretended to think it over. "That's for dumping cold water on me."

I paused. Then defeatedly nodded. "Touche."

"I built a bunch of smoke signals around the island," Van explained. "It must've worked. There's a rescue crew heading our way."

I got up, swaying a bit from the grogginess. Van hurried to my side and helped me keep my balance as I walked out to the opening of the cave. "Where?" I asked.

"There," he pointed. I looked in that direction. It was a rather far distance, but there was indeed a boat heading our way.

"Good," I said. "Your vision's not bad."

"As good as yours?" Van smirked.

"Not quite," I smirked back at him.

"Hey," Van began defensively. "I spotted the boat before you did. My vision's better than you think."

"What's written on the side of the boat?" I asked. Van looked at me quizzically. "How many crewman are on deck? What color are their life jackets? Do they look like Fanelians or Zaibachians?"

"You can see all that?" Van was taken aback.

I stared at him.

He stared back.

Then, I laughed. "No, that's why I'm asking you!"

"Oh..." Van grinned sheepishly.

"I'm not that super," I joked and started walking down to the shore with Van following at my heels.

It was true. I was no super girl. But that was before I knew how "super" I really was.

"HITOMI!"

That piercing shriek calling my name was different from the excited voice that woke me up earlier that morning.

"Hi professor," I grumbled. Maybe I should've stayed stranded and skipped his class forever.

Dryden marched right up to me, stepping solidly onto the sand as though his feet were made of stone. When he was just inches away from me, he plopped both of his large hands on my shoulders, with just enough pressure to make me stay put. Was he afraid I would disappear again?

"Hitomi..." he said again, then closed our proximity with a hug.

"Hrrrmph..." my voice was muffled in the smothering of his sweaty shirt. When he released me by resting his hands on my shoulders once more, I said mockingly, "Teachers aren't supposed to touch students."

"Well today, I'm not your teacher," Dryden declared. "Today, I am your friend." Strange, no gag reflex. "Where's Van?"

Peeking from behind me, Van waved in acknowledgement.

Dryden sighed in relief. "Are you both all right?" With our nods, he continued. "Were you guys nuts? We're in the middle of a storm, and you dive off the boat? You're lucky we were able to fish Allen out of the water! But what if you two hadn't survived, huh? Ever thought about that?"

"That was my brother," Van simply said. I peeked over my shoulder and admired the fire in his eyes as he said that. Dryden didn't know, but I knew that Allen wasn't really Van's brother. Yet, he was able to say that with confidence and without hesitation. By blood or not, Allen and Van were brothers. It was as simple as that.

Dryden sighed, this time in frustration, and shook his head. "What about you, Hitomi? Are you in love with the Schezar brothers or something?"

I blushed. "What?"

Then, I heard a laugh come from behind Dryden. Peering over his shoulder, a tall, blond haired man approached us. "Not likely. But if it has to be one of us, it's probably me."

"Allen!" Van exclaimed. With a beaming smile on his face, Van sprinted to his brother, scooping him up in his arms and lifting him up into the air. Putting Allen back down, Van slapped his brother's arm in a loving gesture to welcome him back. "I wasn't sure if you made it."

"I didn't think you made it," Allen said in all seriousness. All of the sudden, he looked away, as though he couldn't face Van.

"We couldn't search for you on the first day," Dryden explained. "The storm was too rough. When the second day rolled around, there was still no sign of you. But when we spotted the smoke signal this morning, this brat here insisted on tagging along."

"If it wasn't for me-

"Don't," I cut Allen off, grabbing his shoulder to face me. "We're ok. You're ok. Nothing was lost."

"Actually, we missed three days of instruction-

I didn't even have to cut Dryden off with words. A good, cold hard stare did the trick.

"But if I hadn't-

"If," I cut Allen off again. "You hadn't fallen off that boat and almost died that night... a grown ass man like you would never realize the importance of learning how to swim."

"Ahhh, Van, I still can't believe you told Dryden!" Allen suddenly remembered. But his anger was mingled with Van's hysterical laughter.

Laughter. It was like a chorus of melodies. Every sound was filled with emotion; each sound possessed its own story. The island had been silent until the day Van and I washed up shore. And though we were leaving it behind, we did not take the memory of our laughter with us. The island was silent no more, and though it be tomorrow, or years from now, if ever I feel the saddest, I would return to hear our laughter once more.

"Vaaaan!"

I shuddered. It was a high-pitched piercing screech that was the voice of Merle. I could see her on the shore, jumping excitedly and waving so hard, I thought her arm would boomerang out to sea.

Allen grinned sadly. "When she heard about the incident, she dropped everything and came right over. She sat by me until I regained consciousness. I don't think she's slept at all since she got here."

I didn't say anything, but peered over my shoulder at Van. He was fidgeting. "Are you that excited to see your girlfriend?" I mumbled to him.

"Something's wrong," he whispered back to me.

"What is?" I asked and looked more carefully, trying not to draw any attention from the others. Then, I noticed it again. The beads of sweat on his forehead, the tension in his body, and the flickering red glow in his eyes. It was like a mild reaction of what I had witnessed just days earlier on the bus. "How often does this occur?"

"I don't know what it is," Van said, pulling at the collar of his shirt as though it were too tight. "It's never happened before I came to Fanelia."

"So this is the second time?" I asked.

He nodded. Whatever it was that was inflicting this reaction in him was unknown to me. The only other person from Zaibach whose eyes had changed color was Folken, but it was always subtle. They change with the weather, Folken had told me once. But I guess that was just a lie.

"If it happens again, report it to me," I instructed. "We'll figure it out somehow."

When we just barely anchored the shore, Merle came dashing through the shallow ocean water and pounced on Van. Sometimes, I wondered if she was a cat in another life. She sure could move like one at times.

"Van!" Merle exclaimed, hugging the already ill feeling young man as tightly as she could. "Thank goodness, I was so worried!"

Van held her and stroked her back. "I'm ok, Merle. I'm ok."

I casted my gaze downward. It was rude to stare. Climbing off the boat, I dragged my feet up the shore.

"Hitomi!" Dryden called out to me from the boat. "Don't go far, I still need to discuss some things with you and Van."

I looked over at Van. He looked back at me.

"Could it wait?" I asked. "I'm a little tired. I'd like to get some rest."

"Oh..." Dryden rubbed the back of his head. "Right. Yeah, that works. We'll talk first thing tomorrow morning, ok you two?"

Before Van could answer, I agreed and proceeded on to the cabin without looking back.

I let out a short laugh. It wasn't a good laugh. It wasn't a happy laugh. It was a sarcastic laugh.

I had opened the cabin door and flicked on the lights to be revealed to a ridiculous display that I should have expected before I even stepped in. Merle had not only brought herself to Fanelia. She had to bring all of her belongings. It didn't surprise me that she'd chosen to invade Van's cabin, but the question that remained was where I was going to sleep that night.

If it came down to it, I wouldn't mind sleeping outside under the stars. It had been a while since I'd last done that. But for now, I was much too exhausted to even care. Shuffling towards the bunk, my foot hit against something soft. I looked down and saw my bag. Some of the contents had spilt out over the floor; probably when Merle moved in her gigantic suitcases in. I laughed at the thought of that, this time, amused.

I rolled into Van's bed on the bottom bunk. I probably wouldn't be here much longer, so it didn't matter to me.

Ah, sleep... I hadn't slept as much as I had in the past few days since... well, since I could remember. I wasn't just an insomniac, but I physically didn't need it as much. Though every once in a while, I'd try to catch up on it. It was times like these that I wished I'd lost my ability to dream in my sleep. That was my biggest fear every time I closed my eyes. For me, dreams were cruel things.

"I didn't think you'd still be here."

I opened my eyes. Good, no dreams. Shifting my head, I looked over and saw Merle standing by the bunk. "I was assigned this cabin."

"So I've heard," she replied and slowly stepped towards the table in the center of the room. Turning around, she placed her palms down on the edges and leaned back on it. "Seems like you got to spend a lot of time alone with my boyfriend."

Lovely. I got to deal with the insecure jealous girlfriend. Sitting up, I simply said, "I guess I did."

Merle just bit her bottom lip and stayed silent. A moment later, she cut to the chase. "The cabin assignments... being stranded on an island... I know you both didn't have a choice in the way things turned out."

"We didn't."

Merle crossed her arms. She wore layered tank tops, and I could see the structure of her bones in every limb. It was true indeed; Merle was no doubt anorexic. I wondered how I never noticed until now. "But it's not like you both didn't have free will either."

"Can you get to the point?"

She exhaled heavily and pushed herself off the table. "Did anything happen?"

I never truly mastered the art of lying. Though I could be flawless in my delivery, I could never do it right with someone I cared about. But Merle was not one of those people. "Nothing at all."

"Nothing?"

I began to feel uneasy. This was why I never wanted to develop relations with people. I'd get mixed up in different personalities and get involved with the problems that belong in their life. As if I didn't have enough of my own to deal with.

"Look, it's not my problem if you two are having relationship issues," I tried to brush her off.

"Who said anything about that?" Merle retorted. "Van and I are doing just fine."

"Then why are you here?"

Merle took a moment to breathe, while I took a minute to think. It was not my place to tell her that Van planned on breaking up with her. But I couldn't help feel a tinge of guilt for being the reason Van finally made that decision. Was that what they called cheating? I hated people that betrayed, decepted, and lied to those they hold dear. But even without me influencing his decision, he would've done it eventually. That was what I wanted to believe.

"It's never him that I worry about."

"Maybe that's the problem," I threw back at her. I swung my legs over the side of the bed. "I may not know him as well as you do-

"You don't," Merle cut me off.

"But," I continued. "I've gone to school with him long enough to know how many girls throw themselves at him knowing he's with you! Girls will do that. But if his heart is in the right place, what the hell are you so afraid of?"

"I am the one that grew up with Van!" Merle started, her eyes glistening. "I am the one who knows him better than anyone else! I am the one who should be his girlfriend! But these damn sluts keep getting thinner and prettier and sneakier by the minute! Van just doesn't understand. I'm trying to protect him from getting taken away by a selfish whore!"

I let out an ironic laugh. Getting up from bed, I gathered my belongings and stuffed them back into my bag. "You're delusional."

"Excuse me?"

I paused to look at her. Disgusted by her angry stare, I threw my bag back on the ground and stepped towards her. "Selfish... you want to know what selfish is? Selfish is the girlfriend who is so insecure with her relationship that she gets jealous of every girl in her boyfriend's life. Selfish is the girlfriend who wants to keep her boyfriend all to herself when he is not a thing to be possessed in the first place. You want to know what selfish looks like? Take a look in the mirror, because I guarantee that the girl that will take Van away from you won't be one of us. It will be the girl you see standing right in front of you." I picked my bag up and continued stuffing it. "You call me a selfish whore. Ever thought what a whore really is? Whore is not the woman stealing your man away. Whore is the man that allowed her to."

Hooking the bag over my shoulder, I walked away from Merle the same way I walked away from Van: without looking back.

I had gone off into a clearing in the woods. I was feeling abnormally exhausted, so I had decided to rest. But by the time the sun had begun to set in the distant horizon, I could feel it. It was coming; a seizure. I sighed. Though I'd been inflicted with this sickness for years, the body gets tired. How long would my body bear this pain and suffering?

When was the last time I had a seizure, I wondered. For a while, I had been able to control it with the trial medicines I'd been able to concoct. But every so often, it would come with brute force that even my strongest dosage could not combat. And I knew that this would be one of those times.

I rolled off of my back and rummaged through my bag for my bottle of pills. I cringed in confusion. "It's not here..." I said to myself. I turned it over and let everything cascade onto the ground, but found nothing. "Where is it..." I thought. I always carried at least half a dozen bottles: one on me and the rest for back up. I'd lost the one I carried in my pocket when I dove into the ocean to save Allen and Van. But my other bottles were no where in sight.

I thought carefully... and then realized it. "Damn it."

I'd found my bag knocked over and its contents spilled on the floor. The bottles must've rolled somewhere in the cabin; the cabin that I'd have to return to; the cabin where Merle was.

"Lovely," I grimaced. I packed up my things for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and made my way back to Cabin 333.

I knocked on the door three times. It only took a second for Merle to open it. Her short-lived excitement shriveled into a miserable death at the sight of my face.

She let out a short laugh and rolled her head back. "I can't believe this."

"Neither can I," I mumbled and quickly squeezed through the space between Merle and the door.

"Excuse me? Hitomi?" the girl said my name as-a-matter-of-factly. "You can't just barge in here whenever you feel like it."

"Too bad, I already did," I said passively while searching the cabin floor.

"Can you just stay away from Van, please?" Merle was beginning to sound impatient.

"How can I?" I replied. "He's my partner."

"Look, I know what you are, ok," she said so in a threatening voice that made me stop in my tracks. No, it wasn't her voice that scared me. It would take a hell of a lot more than this petite brat to scare me. It's what she said.

"Really?" I returned her matter-of-fact tone.

"You heard me," she retorted. "I don't know, nor do I care, what your problem is. But I won't let some pill poppin' drug addict mess around with my boyfriend. He doesn't need people like you to ruin his life, so just stay the hell away from him!"

I breathed an unsurprised sigh of relief. It would be very inconvenient for me to have someone like Merle find out my real identity. But how did she know about the pills, I wondered. "Last time I checked, I wasn't a top candidate for narcotics rehab. But since we're on the topic, I am looking for some bottles of pills. So relax, I'm not here to see your boyfriend, I just want my meds, then I'm out."

"They're gone."

"Gone?" I squinted my eyes in confusion.

"Gone," Merle repeated. "Flushed, to be precise."

The look on my face at that moment must've been something... it's a good thing I couldn't see it. It only took me a moment to register what she had said. Slowly, I began to nod with a bitter understanding. "You took a peek into my bag, didn't you?"

"I had to," she shamelessly answered. "You're not exactly a social butterfly at school. I had to know what kind of girl I'm dealing with." Merle left the door open and went to sit on one of the stools and crossed her forearms on the table. "You're lucky I didn't report you to Dryden. Consider it a favor in exchange for you keeping your distance from Van."

"You..." I started to say, but couldn't find the words to continue.

I swallowed a hard lump down my throat. On another given day, I probably would've kicked her ass. But it was not the time for that. This bitch had flushed my entire med stock down the toilet. Weeks of pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into finding a cure, and for what? So this egotistical diva could take out her pitiful insecurity woes on me.

"You have no idea what you've just done."

"Hey, I did you a favor!" Merle reasoned. "Whatever it is you're taking, it's going to kill you one day. You should be thanking me!"

I closed my eyes, squeezing the bridge of my nose with one hand and resting the other on my waist. I took a deep breath. Calm down, Hitomi, I told myself. I had to. The seizures could attack at any given moment, one that was bad enough to put me into a coma, or possibly even kill me. Or worse...

I could turn.

Whenever the seizures were severe enough, I could feel it fighting inside of me. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't want to find out. I was afraid of what it would make me become. Would I turn into a monster? Not being able to control myself, hurting people... that was my greatest fear, not knowing what I was capable of. Death was a much better alternative. At least then, I'd know how my fate would unfold. At least then, no one would get hurt because of me. No, I couldn't let this take control of me. Never.

I would deal with Merle later, but right now, I must deal with myself.

I turned over my bag, emptying it once again as I made room to pack whatever tools and gadgets I'd need to make more medicine. Rummaging through the cabin's drawers and shelves, I began taking everything. I had no time to waste; I had to bring it all.

"What are you doing?" Merle asked with a ridiculous tone of voice.

"You know what, Merle," I paused for a moment to look at her. "Since you're so fond of doing me favors today, why don't you do me another one and stay the hell out of my business?"

"Oh, touchy," the girl mocked. "Well, it's not my life on the line, so do what you want."

"Right," I agreed. "Like starving yourself to get ahead in life is any better."

"What?" Merle exclaimed.

Ignoring the brat, I continued searching for a specific type of flask on the shelves. Where is it, I thought frustratedly. I should've paid more attention, because by the time I found it and turned around, Merle already had her hands on my bag.

I sighed heavily. "Merle-

"What did you say?" Merle demanded. "What the hell did you just say?"

"Look, I don't have time for this-

Before I could say another word, my voice was overpowered by the deafening sound of glass breaking on the floor. Merle had smashed my bag onto the ground. And she did it on purpose.

"I don't know what rumor mill you rode to get that bull shit," Merle venomously spat. "But you should take a look at yourself before you talk about things you don't know!"

Many thoughts infected my mind like a virus. I knew it was wrong of me to talk about Merle's anorexia like that. It wasn't my business to begin with; I had no right to throw it in her face. As furious as I was with her at that moment, I still knew my place. Now that it's come out, she had turned the tables and threw it right back in my face. No, I was no victim to anorexia. But I probably looked like one. It's not my fault my body's become so thin and frail.

But now was not the time to be focusing on Merle. I needed to focus on me.

"Excuse me, but I have things to do," I simply said and walked passed her.

Right when I did, she grabbed my arm, hard. But at the same time, I suddenly felt lightheaded and felt my knees give out. In just a split second, I had fallen over and crushed my forehead on the side of the table.

And then, I had no idea what was going on around me.

"Hitomi!"

I heard two voices. One belonged to Merle. And the other... Van?

"Hitomi?" Van called out to me. I could feel his arms wrapping around my body and shaking me just enough to keep me awake. A gentle hand went to my forehead where I could feel blood seeping down my face. My head hurt, and it wasn't just because of my newly acquired wound. It was coming.

"Hitomi, are you ok?" I could hear an apologetic Merle next to me.

"Merle, what happened?" Van asked.

"I... I don't know!" Merle exclaimed. "It was an accident! We were arguing and she tried to leave, so I tried to stop her and this happened. I didn't do it, Van, I swear!"

"What were you fighting about?" he asked.

"She got all upset because I flushed her drugs down the toilet," Merle defended herself. "She's a total addict!"

"Wait... you did what?" Van's voice was suddenly rising in a panic.

"I..." Merle began skeptically. "I said I flushed her drugs. She had a ton of pills in her bag and-

"You flushed her pills?" Van exclaimed. Without wasting time, he redirected his attention towards me. "Hitomi, can you hear me?"

It took all the strength I had left to answer. "Yes... I can."

"Do you have any more medicine?" he asked.

"No..." I replied. "It's... coming. I... can feel it."

"What's coming?" Merle interrupted. "Van, what's going on?"

"She's not an addict," Van answered. He slowly turned his face to look at her. "She's sick."

"What?" Merle breathed. Merle always had an overpowering voice. It came with the over-the-top personality that she had. But never had I heard her voice so small as I did then.

"We'll have to make more," Van said more to himself than to us. "Merle, gather the equipment, we're going to make more medicine for Hitomi."

"But..." Merle said and peered over her shoulder at my bag, whose equipment was now permanently disabled. "I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

Van sharply exhaled. "Hitomi's running out of time. I'll deal with this alone. You just stay here and take care of her."

"But, what's wrong with her?" Merle asked.

Van adjusted his hold on me and slowly picked me up. He walked me over to his bunk and put me on his bed.

"It's a neurological dysfunction," Van lied. "She's constantly in pain. And when her headaches are bad enough, she'll have a seizure. If I don't get her this medicine..."

Van's voice was almost gone when he continued.

"...she'll die."