Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, its original characters, or any flashbacks from the series used in this fic. I also do not own the song "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper. However, Yuushi, Ari, Oban, Makai, and Sukusari are mine.

A/N: It's time for chapter thirteen now, isn't it? I won't waste your time with my idiotic babbling! On with the story!

Tears of the Heart

You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh I realize
It's hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

Show me a smile then,
Don't be unhappy, can't remember
When I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

-"True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper

Chapter 13: Broken Tomorrow

"Hyah! Hyah!" Hitomi urged, digging her heels into her horse's sides as she galloped across the empty field. They were outside of Asturia. Van and Folken stood there, glaring daggers at each other. She could see them from a distance as her mount kicked up dust behind her. Sweat dripped down her brow.

What should I do? I can't bear the thought of losing either one of them… I love them… They've both become so important to me. Without them, I don't think that I could breathe… I need them like oxygen. So vital, so life-fulfilling. Losing Van would be like losing an arm and losing Folken would be like losing the other. What would I do without my arms? She immediately remembered a video they'd shown in her health class about a woman born without arms who could still drive a car, but she shook her head, clearing the thought. She was getting a bit off topic. After all, there were no cars on Gaea.

"VAN! FOLKEN!" she called as she rushed towards them. They turned, noticing her approach, then turned back towards each other and glared, as though daring the other to call out to her first.

"HITOMI!" Van replied, waving at her frantically with his muscled arm. Folken just gazed at her with an unfathomable expression. He acknowledged her presence. Folken wasn't the type to yell or make a commotion over anything. Even his lunatic wife riding out in the middle of a life-or-death duel.

"Why don't you just let her go? She wants to be with me! You took her from me just for spite, and when this is over, I'll take her back! And we'll be happy! No thanks to you, Brother!" Van spat vehemently as Hitomi finally reached them, quickly dismounting.

"Are you both crazy?" she yelled indignantly as she stormed up to them. "Rushing out here at the crack of dawn to kill each other? What kind of idiots are you? Van, your wounds are still healing, and Folken, well I'd just expect more sense out of you… Do you really think that this impresses me? You slicing each other to bits before my very eyes?"

"Well, we didn't exactly invite you out here, Hitomi." Van reminded her sternly, happy to see her, yet annoyed by her interruption.

"Despite what practices are followed on the Mystic Moon, on Gaea, women are not seen on the field of battle." Folken whispered. Hitomi could tell that he was annoyed because his voice grew quieter and quieter. It was Folken's manner.

"What were you going to do? Either of you? Folken, if you won, would you come back in and say, 'Hey! I wiped out that pesky savior of yours!' And Van, if you won, what would you do? Come in and whisk me away after telling me that you'd murdered my husband while I slept? For men of such good breeding, for men of such good hearts, your actions disgust me. I don't care how medieval Gaea is! All of your world's problems cannot be solved by constant fighting! Everything you build is soon destroyed. All your hopes are soon crushed. How can you really expect to accomplish anything when everyone must constantly live in fear?"

"Well, how do they solve problems in your world, Hitomi?" Van asked calmly.

"Actually… They do the same thing…" she whispered, her feet suddenly becoming very interesting.

"What a hypocrite…" Van murmured, shaking his head.

"Just because my people do it doesn't mean that I believe that it's right!" she protested. "We make mistakes. Horrible mistakes. But I'd hate for all the terrible things that have happened on Earth to happen here as well! It's just not right!"

"You tend to use that argument quite frequently…" Folken observed as Hitomi blushed.

Naria… Hitomi thought sadly. And look where that got her… She shivered.

"War does not produce change. Hitomi's… right." Van murmured hesitantly. "Look at us, Folken. We just keep fighting the same battle. What's the point? I'm sick of it. I keep thinking that maybe I can give fighting up. I even gave up my own sword. But too soon after, I realized what an idiot I was and fetched another weapon. The moment an adversary drops their blade, you are only considered wise if you pick it up. Hitomi's right, but really, I don't see any other way…"

"Van, if you would only submit to Zaibach, our world would be free of battle. There would finally be peace."

"But don't you see, Folken? Even if I were to surrender our homeland, then someone else would answer the call. Brother, if you oppress people, someone is bound to rise up and challenge you. But even if I had no country. Even if I had no people. Even if I had no pride. Even if I had nothing left worth fighting for, I'd kill you, Folken. I'd kill you without remorse. You killed my friends. My allies. You killed them all, Folken, and you didn't even care! Their lives, they meant nothing to you! That's why I hate Zaibach. Why I hate you. You treat lives like they're nothing, just dirt beneath your feet. To you, lives are dispensable. That's the difference between you and me, Brother. Unlike you, I try to see the worth of every life. Because I know that life is worth living. That's why I don't understand how you can defend him, Hitomi. They were your friends, too. And you… You, Hitomi… You've abandoned them…"

"I've never abandoned them, you jerk…" Hitomi whispered angrily.

"Do you know what it was like to come back here? To come back to the place I considered my home and find out that the people who had become my family were dead? When I thought that you were dead, I didn't want to go on living. Because I love you, you stupid bastard. And I loved them. But we can't do anything for them now, Van. You live in the past, and the way you're going, you're going to die there." she continued shakily. "And I know that it hurts and I know that inside you're crying, Van. I know that your heart is broken and weeping. But you can't hate Folken. You shouldn't hate him. It's not his fault…"

"LIAR!" Van yelled defensively, his eyes widening in anger at what she was saying.

"If you'd been there, Hitomi, if you'd seen what I saw… If you saw what that bastard did to Merle…"

"Van, it wasn't him! Don't you understand me? We were tricked, lied to, deceived! Zaibach's sorcerers killed them to get back at Folken when he joined our cause! Folken never betrayed us. He never lied to us. He never cheated us. Your brother loves you. He has always loved you." Hitomi said softly, walking up to the raven-haired king and hugging him tightly, tears coursing down her cheeks. "But it's alright now. We're all here together and we'll survive and we'll be happy. You two can end all of this right here, right now."

"He has poisoned you…" Van whispered, his eyes flashing dangerously. "He has poisoned you against me… He tells you these things, but they're not true, Hitomi!" He shook her roughly by the shoulders.

"STOP IT!" She slapped him across the face. "You know that I can think for myself. I don't eat lies when they're fed to me. Folken has been nothing but honest from the very beginning, and if you won't believe him after all that I've said, then you're not the boy I fell in love with… You're not him at all." she murmured.

"Hitomi… My life has been filled with uncertainty. But there has been one thing that never wavered… Even when I knew that you didn't share my feelings, I always cared for you… Even when you ignored me, even when I saw you kiss Allen, even when you left me… I never stopped thinking about you… Because I love you, Hitomi." Van said awkwardly, his eyes locking with hers.

"So after all of this, you finally admit it? Now, when the dark finale is rising?" Folken asked coldly.

"Well have you ever said it?" Van shot back defensively.

Folken's silent response was all the answer Van needed.

"Hitomi, you're the most important thing in the world to me…" he began as her eyes narrowed.

"Is that all I am to you both? A thing? An object to be squabbled over like infants fighting over a toy? I don't want to stay here with people who treat me like a piece of furniture… Like I don't even have my own thoughts and feelings. No one has ever cared what I thought. You and Allen were the same way. Nothing has changed! Neither of you seem to give a damn about my feelings. All you care about are yourselves. There's no room left in your selfish hearts for me…" she whispered.

"Hitomi…" Van pleaded, not liking the turn this conversation was taking. He was already having déjà vu of her departure three years ago. He grabbed her arm, daring that damned pillar of light to interrupt.

"Hitomi, I need you here. I need you here with me. I want you to stay with me…" His cheeks flushed as Hitomi relived a memory that she'd tried to forget.

"Van, I've heard this one before, and I know how it ends…" she hissed angrily, extending her hand back, ready to slap him.

"Hitomi, that time, in the hangar, I… I didn't know what I was saying… Hitomi, I was fifteen. I was scared. I know that I did it all wrong. All of my words got twisted up inside of my head. I was selfish and stupid and I know it. Hitomi, I want you to forgive me."

"It's not that simple, Van." she whispered softly. "Do you know how many times I've cried for you? How many times I gave you up for dead? Do you know how many times that I was sure I'd die if I didn't see you again? Van, you've hurt me. Again and again. And I know that I've hurt you. But I forgive you… Because you… You're a child, Van. A lonely child who doesn't know what he wants. But I still love you." She looked into his deep brown eyes and felt lost. "I just don't know where to turn anymore. You and Folken. It's like trying to catch a rainbow. It never works out. I'm selfish and I want you both… And it hurts. It really hurts." she whispered, shuddering slightly as a cool breeze whistled past her cheek.

"Hitomi, is it really so hard to decide between someone who loves you and a murderer who kidnapped you and forced you to marry him?" Van yelled indignantly.

"Hitomi, I'm a fair man, it's your decision. Me, Van, neither. It doesn't matter anymore." Folken murmured calmly.

"But what are you saying Folken?" Hitomi asked softly.

Folken answered silently at first, removing his robe and spreading his beautiful black wings.

"Hitomi, Brother… I've cheated death time and time again. I had these blackened wings the first time I truly met you, Hitomi. They were a harbinger of death then, and their meaning hasn't changed. I will die. And soon. I can't evade the grim reaper's scythe forever. And I don't want to. Because this life is tragic. It saddens me every day I live."

"But Folken, you mustn't give up like this. You can't just stop caring! It's not like you, Folken. You're so quiet and cold, but inside I know you! I know how you feel about things! You try to hide it, but I know that you worry. You always worry and that's why so many people worry about you…" she whispered. "People return your feelings, right?" She smiled slightly and he sighed.

"Such naïveté is what gets you in trouble like this to begin with…" Folken muttered.

"Well, I'm not going to let you kill each other and I'm not going to abandon either of you, so I guess we're at a stalemate." Hitomi announced.

"How quaint…" Van muttered sarcastically, his hand drifting ever closer to his replacement sword.

"Stop it, Van!" Hitomi demanded angrily. "You're the reason for all of this suffering! Because you won't let go of the past! Your grip on anger is so firm; it makes your knuckles white. Van, Folken loves you, and I love you. So please, stop this, Van."

"Hitomi…" he whispered, confusion slipping into his voice.

Folken stood up from where he'd been sitting on a rock.

"She's right you know, Van. You and I, we can't let go of what has happened to us, and therefore we can never move forward. I let myself build an empire on the broken bodies of a childlike people, thinking that the more I had, the happier I would be. But I just grew more miserable day by day. But no more. I can no longer bear to shed the blood of the innocents. I… I hate killing; I hate death. I thought that if I could change destiny, then perhaps I could cheat death. Perhaps I could save gentle souls like yours Van, from becoming soldiers. I lost sight of what my true purpose was. But from this moment forward, the Zaibach Empire will be no more, and her people will carry onward. They'll live and die and be happy about it. And so will I."

Hitomi smiled, running towards his arms to hug the tall man. However, she never reached her husband. And a gruesome sight soon met her eyes. Out of nowhere, she heard a voice.

"THIS IS FOR MY SON THAT YOU KILLED! DIE, BASTARD!" An angry man with a brown-mustache alighted from a hidden location, his bow strung, and he released an arrow. He then killed himself with knife, cutting his own throat. The arrow zoomed through the air with a whishing sound and Folken's eyes widened in disbelief.

"FOLKEN, NO!" Hitomi cried, rushing forward, trying to do something, when she knew it was far too late. It was like everything was in slow motion.

"BROTHER!" Van called out, his voice filled with pain.

So you do still love him… Hitomi observed sadly. She saw the arrow strike Folken. She saw him fall to the ground, clutching his chest, blood dripping from his mouth.

"NO!" she screamed, sprinting forward and practically falling on the ground to be by his side. She cradled his head in her lap and spoke to him softly.

"Folken, you'll be alright… You'll be fine, Folken." She was trying to convince herself of this fact more than him.

"Van, please… Pull out this arrow. Please, Van." she begged tearfully. Van hastened to her side and quickly, carefully yanked it out as Folken groaned in pain.

"Hitomi… This arrow has been poisoned. Even if he'd missed… The poison is being pumped through his blood. Soon it will reach his heart. Hitomi, he'll…"

"NO!" Hitomi stopped him, eyes wide.

"Don't say that! Folken won't die… He can't… He's Folken… He's always so lucky…" her voice broke as she bit back tears.

"Hitomi, he wasn't lucky this time… Actually, Folken's never been very lucky…" Van murmured.

"Hi-tomi…" Folken gasped, breathing heavily.

"Shh… I'm right here, Folken. I won't leave you. So don't you leave me… Stay…" Hitomi comforted and pleaded, wiping away the sweat dripping down his brow.

"Hitomi… I can't…"

"Yes you can, Folken. You can do anything… I know that you can. A stupid arrow… It could never kill you… It's just not possible, Folken."

"I'm not afraid to die."

"But I am…" Hitomi whispered softly, clutching his hand. "And to see you die, to see such fleeting mortality, it would break my heart, Folken…"

"You're such a child, Hitomi." he said lightly, closing his eyes. "Maybe that's why I'm so fond of you. You can be so happy and naïve, it's rather… endearing. Even when you were an old woman, I'd still think of you as a girl… A carefree, silly girl. The bravest girl I've ever known. I'll miss that spirit."

"Don't say things like that, Folken. Please, stop it. You're hurting me." she whispered.

"I'm sorry. But in spite of it all, I didn't even know. I never knew. It's ironic at this point, isn't it?"

"What? What are you trying to say?" she asked in confusion.

"Something I should have said a long time ago… I… I love you, Hitomi…" he murmured, blood collecting on his lips. "But I can't stay with you… I want you to be happy… Happy with Van… He'll take care of you, because he loves you very much…" His eyes fluttered and closed and his body became rigid.

"No… No, Folken. Don't die on me… I love you, Folken." She said in the tiniest voice imaginable. He squeezed her hand slightly before he fell limp. Rain seemed to receive its cue and a torrential downpour began to fall. Van stared silently at his brother's body. He took out his borrowed sword and Hitomi's eyes turned fearful. What was he doing? To her relief, he stuck it in the ground before Folken and knelt down, saying a quiet prayer.

I've never seen Van pray before… She thought dazedly. It was rather surreal.

"Van…" She whispered softly, staring at him through new eyes. The boy who she'd fallen in love with was now an 18-year-old man. His beautiful amber eyes seemed to glow even more vibrantly from his tanned, chiseled face as his raven-colored bangs obscured his vision, his lips in a solemn line. "You haven't changed… You're still him… You're still that boy…" She licked her chapped lips, looking at him with those mystic eyes that bewitched him with every gaze.

"I'm not the one who's changed, Hitomi." Van said quietly. "I've always been right here."

"I know, Van… I've always known. I guess I just didn't want to see it with my own eyes." He looked at her hungrily, passionately, and stepped forward.

"I've waited for this for a long time, Hitomi…"

A/N: Cliffy! Evil, aren't I? Sorry. I realize that this was kind of an odd chapter… There is only one real chapter left and then I guess what can be called an "epilogue." And I definitely saw Star Wars: Episode III a few too many times. Look at page three if you don't know what I'm talking about. It was unintentional, but I'm amused, so I didn't change it. I know that you H/F people are about to string me up, but I have something coming up in the next couple chapters that should slightly appease you. I've got it all planned out, folks, so don't worry! Most likely, chapter 14 shall come out in 2 weeks from tomorrow. I'll be vacationing in CO during that time and I will try to update as soon as I get back. If I possibly have a chance, I might be able to get my uncle to loan me his laptop to upload chapter 14… Might is the keyword there. Although updating in three weeks was a lot timelier than not updating for fifteen months, so baby steps, right? The coolest homecoming gift would be a plethora of reviews, darlings! Make my dreams come true! Oh yeah and "True Colors" is supposed to represent how Hitomi feels about Folken. (It took me a really long time to pick a song for this chapter… I've been sitting here for an hour.)

Next Time On "Tears of the Heart":

"It's going to be alright, Van." Hitomi told him quietly, biting her lip. "I know that it may not seem like it right now, but I promise you. Everything's going to be okay."

Silently, he stepped onto the platform of the guymelef, and offered his hand to Hitomi, pulling her up next to him. After she was seated, he took the controls. Suddenly they were leaving Zaibach far behind them.