Disclaimer: I don't own the Vision of Escaflowne, but a do own A vision of Escflowne… That is, if you consider a dream a vision.

Chapter 3

Midnight had struck. The city around her was absolutely silent. Yukari sighed as she opened the glass doors to her dormitory, and up the wooden staircase. After a few hours of consistent crying, Yukari had managed to stop her tears and explain the situation in its entirety to Amano. The blond sat and listened to her story, always managing to keep a sympathetic gaze upon her. Her heart was breaking in two and he could do nothing but sit there. All she wanted to do was the scream Amano to bring back Hitomi, to remind the girl of the people that loved her here, on earth. But he knew as well as she did. Whatever they told Hitomi wasn't going to faze her. Hitomi's heart had been so broken that she wouldn't even consider it.

That planet had stolen Hitomi's heart. And today, that man had now stolen her best friend as a whole.

Yukari wiped a stray tear from her cheek. She didn't want to go back to the cold desolate room in which she had lived in. It was the place where for the past 3 years, Hitomi and she had made so many memories. How could she go back there? She wasn't entirely sure if she could stand to walk into the room and not find Hitomi asleep on her text book. How long would it take to go to sleep without the rhythmic breathing of a sleeping Hitomi?

She turned the brass knob, the cold metal sending a shiver down her spine. Cold air whipped past her as she opened the door. Just as she had suspected, it was dark, quiet, and forlorn. The red head closed her eyes as if to shelter herself from the sight she already knew was before her.

A white light filtered into the barren room. Tears threatened to fall as she saw the room. Hitomi's bed was perfectly made, although a few wrinkles from where she had obviously came home, and at the very least sat on the bed. Yukari sighed as she looked at the television. The familiar black and white static screen played on its front. However, as she red head walked forward to turn it off, the blinking red light above caught her attention. The red light made her realize that there was in fact something connected to the TV, which she had to admit, sparked her interest.

Curious, Yukari wiped a few rebel tears and flipped a switch on the wall before she began to look for the play button. She managed to find the small grey triangle hidden under the screen. As she did, she hesitated. Was she entirely sure she wanted to see the contents of the video? It could be a project that Hitomi had to do, or maybe even a ransom-video! The raven haired 'prince' could have in fact been a kidnapper, his target- Hitomi!

But Yukari knew that wasn't the case. She knew immediately what she saw in him was pure and pressed the button. Even if it was a stupid project, it was the last stupid thing she would see from the green eyed blonde…

The room in the screen had a ginger glow, and in front was Yukari's bed, making it obvious that it was done just in front of the TV. The iron stairwell managed to make its appearance in the open window. The same blue duffle bag Hitomi used for track sat on the window, its zipper wide open, with clothes other objects pointing out of the top. A figure to the left of the scene made a comment.

"Are you ready Hitomi?" the male voice asked. The person obviously behind the camera sighed.

"No not yet," she said casually. The man walked in front of the camera, his beige pants being the only visible sight. Hitomi laughed behind the camera. "Get out of the way, Van. I started it!" she exclaimed, rushing in front of the television set.

Van was pushed onto the bed, where he sat with a confused expression. "What do you mean started it?"

Hitomi sighed as she rolled her eyes, settling herself onto the front end of the bed, annoying Van entirely. "I'm recording—ah forget it. I'll explain it to you later," she said, waving her hand as she turned around to face him. The raven haired king was highly annoyed, but he managed to shrug it off with a 'whatever' as he lay on the bed, crossing his arms behind his head.

The blonde laughed an honest laugh as she pushed he hair behind her ears. Her attention reverted back to the camera, and she sighed. "Where to begin?" she asked herself quietly. "I honestly have no idea..." The blonde sighed once again as she continued to think. "Well, Yukari, if you're watching this, you probably have an idea of what's going on." Hitomi turned around to look at Van, as if she needed his support. It was obvious it was just a reflex because she immediately turned back around, her face filled with an unknown determination. "Well, probably not really. You see Yukari, I wasn't lying about Gaea."

With that Hitomi moved over. And there was Van, his head laying on the edge of the bed. He looked over at the TV, supposedly seeing nothing. "What the hell are you talking to Hitomi?"

A smile crossed the blonde's face as the man next to her stared utterly confused. "I said I'll explain later," she said, brushing him off. Hitomi continued to laugh as he huffed and rolled back over before getting off the bed. Van walked over near the window where he began to observe the stereo with extreme interest.

As her laughter died down, Hitomi's attention reverted back to the camera. "You see," she started in a soft voice, as if finding the courage. Her eyes went from bright and happy to lost and abandoned. "I told you about what I went through on Gaea, and I won't lie to you, it's changed me. When I left, I didn't realize I left apart of myself there too." Van stilled in the background, his muscles tensing up. "And it's because I left a piece of myself there that I'll never be able to live like before, Yukari. I can't whole heartedly throw my devotions to track, nor can I completely concentrate on college. I can't give anything my all because I'm not entirely here." Tears began to build in her eyes as she spoke to her friend. "I haven't felt whole since I left," she whispered to the air.

Hitomi's emerald green eyes continued to gaze around the room. Although it wasn't apparent as to what she was looking at entirely, it was evident that she was more than likely taking the last look at the place she knew as home. A tear began to fall down her cheek as she looked down at her hands, clenching at the blue jeans which she wore.The battery symbol on the top corner began to blink.

"I don't know how to say this," she said, her voice barely audible. "But I'm leaving. If I knew 5 years ago that Gaea would have had such an effect on me, I wouldn't have left, and it's as easy as that."

In the back, Van turned to look at Hitomi. His maroon eyes filled with compassion and understanding. It was almost as if he realized exactly what he was doing to her, forcing her to come home and leave everything she had once known to be her reality. He sighed and took a few steps forward.

"But that's why I'm leaving," she said quietly, stopping Van in his tracks and raising her head. The tears she began to shed earlier having seen as a long lost memory. "I don't want to feel this empty anymore. If Van is here to take me away, I will go without hesitation. I realize what I'm leaving behind; friends, family, a world I've lived in my entire life. But even with all of that, they can't replace what part of my heart has been missing."

Van looked at Hitomi with confusion, yet at the same time understanding. Hitomi had turned around to where her and Van's eyes locked. An untold exchange took place in an instant, and whoever would watch the video would see the unmistakable bond the two of them shared. Any rumors would be quelled in an instant.

Hitomi looked back at the camera, a smile crossing over her face. "Make sure to tell my parents that I love them, and don't let Mamoru try to bully you into 'seeing' this tape. Lord knows what that boy would try to do with it…" her voice trailed off. Her voice was becoming hoarse, as she could feel her throat closing from the emotion. She was facing leaving everything behind; her best friend, her entire family.

The symbol began to blink faster, turning red. A small beep was made, trying to grab everyone's attention. Clearing her throat again, Hitomi began to speak. She realized it may be the last chance that she ever got to.

"Yukari," she said barely in an audible tone. "There is only one thing that I ask of you, and that's to make sure that both my family and you, of all people, remember this one and simple thing: I love you all, I wouldn't be who I am today without you

"…but It's because of who I am, and what Gaea has done to me, that I have to go."

The image flashed away to the blinding white and black static continued still to roll across the screen. Yukari stared at the screen, the tears freely falling now. She picked up the remote behind her and re-winded it. She had to see Hitomi's face just one more time.

She paused it. Van and Hitomi stared back at each other with understanding and concern for the other. There was a bond there that much was obvious. However, to see the faith and affection in her eyes, matched only by his concerned yet relaxed gaze, was a scene that was stabbing her heart. Yukari fell back harshly onto her bed. She placed a hand up to her face in an attempt to wipe away the defiant tears falling down her face, but all she could do was cry.

A column of blue light filtered down from the sky. As Van and Hitomi managed to touch the ground, it dissipated into the sky again. Hitomi let go of the angel before her as she felt the breeze of Gaea. She looked up at the lush green treetops, and the clear sky above the poked its way through. It was exactly like in her dreams. The blonde closed her eyes gently as she just felt the world around her. It was beautiful and clean, not like Earth, where pollution lurked in every corner of the world. She opened her eyes once again, and turned around. She looked directly at Van, his angelic wings still in view.

I'm back…

Hitomi smiled brightly at him as he managed to close his wing's again to where the disappeared from sight. She still thought the site was breathtakingly beautiful, even after having seen them many a time. She took a step closer to him as he took a look around. Van was happy to be back, but his instincts took over.

"We're near the Capital," he announced, re-adjusting the giant blue duffle bag on his shoulder. Hitomi nodded as she understood. Although she had absolutely no idea where they were, Van had lived here is entire life, growing up running around the many forests near and around Gaea.

Van continued to look at his surroundings, placing a hand on his sword. Fanelia was the land of dragons, and unless they were in a settlement, they weren't entirely safe. Over the years Dragons had learned to stay away from the citizens of Fanelia, but the forests were in fact their territory. Although they usually didn't attack, there was no reason for him to relax his guard.

Hitomi walked towards Van and took her duffle bag from him, placing it on her shoulder. She looked at Van awaiting his instruction. Like Van ever truly 'instructed' her to do anything, but she did realize that she would have to follow him to get back to Fanelia.

Van sighed as he began to speak. "Well, I guess we start moving now, or else we won't make it before nightfall," he stated, taking the first steps towards the slow trek to the capital. Hitomi followed shortly behind him. It was going to be a pretty decent walk, thank the lord that Hitomi was an athletic person.

When the two of them made it to the city gates, they were both exhausted. Van walked up to the guards near the gate as Hitomi sat down on her duffle bag sore from hours of walking. "Near the capital my ass," she complained quietly under her breath as she sat down. Although she had attempted to hide her statement, Van had in heard it all and rolled his eyes in amusement. He was tempted to laugh, but he was too exhausted to even do that. Besides, he had to be all authoritative, being king and all.

The raven haired king walked up to the two guards, who were chatting over something that was completely off topic. The two had immediately hushed as they saw the King come closer, but Van had an exceptionally good ear, and heard the last bit of the conversation.

"What do you mean the general is making you work too hard?" Van questioned as he confronted the two men. Both were near his own age, but Van had the deeper tone of the three of them.

Immediately, the two jumped to attention. The one on the right quickly answered, "we were just joking", while the other quietly complained "5 more hours till we're off the clock joking…" The taller of the two, the one on the right, managed to elbow his comrade before bowing to the highly amused king. "Forgive him!"

Van laughed. "Oh stop being so formal," he complained, waving his hand. The tone in his voice lightened and he grinned. "If you're being worked too hard, I'll have a discussion with the general. After all, we are in a time of peace."

The soldiers looked at each other, obviously confused. But they quickly shrugged it off. Fanelians never were that formal after all. So after the three of them stopped laughing, the solider immediately left to go and find a horse for the King and his companion. Van sighed as he made his way next to Hitomi who was still sitting on her duffle bag, next to the other side of the gate. Surprisingly to him, she had her eyes closed as she was just sitting there. It was almost like she was absorbing everything again. The sound of the passing carts, hooves clattering against the stone streets. The simple sounds that one who lives there would have ignored were surprisingly the ones she missed so much.

Van took a seat next to her, leaning up against the wall. "You okay?" he asked, grabbing her attention from whatever dream-like state she was in.

Hitomi opened her eyes and looked at Van. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said quietly. A smile crossed her face and for seemingly no reason at all. Van stared at her with extreme interest, but shrugged it off as her happiness to be back on Gaea. His thoughts turned back to that conversation Hitomi had with the strange box in her room. The confessions she said still rang in his head. She had regretted leaving Gaea.

The raven haired king quickly tossed away the depressing thoughts. Right now he should just be enjoying her company again. After 5 long years, he had finally brought Hitomi home. Everyone, even Merle had missed her, and he finally had reason to go and bring her back to Gaea where she could once again be in his own company.

Speaking of Merle…

"VAN-SAMA!!"

Hitomi's emerald eyes shot open at the familiar voice, where Van widened. "Crap," he said, moving to the other side of Hitomi, the side opposite from the city. The blonde looked at Van with confusion until she saw a certain cat-girl running down the main street towards the city's gate, narrowly dodging the passing traffic. Hitomi laughed out loud as Van sighed straightening out. Fate cannot be avoided.

Van braced himself as he stood up. Within moments, the king had disappeared from Hitomi's sight with a blur. Hitomi looked down and there laid before her the view of Van laying down on the ground, sprawled out in a sort of manner, with a pink haired cat-girl sitting on top of him. Merle began to rub Van's face in a very cat like manner, much to both Merle and the arriving soldier's amusement. The solider stood behind her, two reigns in hand, confused yet amused at the same time.

The blonde turned around to look at the armor clad solider. Their eyes locked and within an instant, they burst into laughter. The two on the ground before them began to argue once again as they have since the day they met.

"Merle!" Van complained, "Get off of me!" He tried his hardest to push the cat-girl off, but Merle had retained her position.

Turning her head to him, Merle stuck out her tongue. "Nope!"

Van's face grew red as laughter could be heard in the background. This of course only made him that much more angry at the girl on top of him. "I said it once, and I'll say it again: Get Off!" he threatened in that authoritative voice he had gained in ruling.

The cat-girl grunted before placing herself even more firm into his abdomen, making the king grunt in pain. "Make me!" she chided childishly. Their eyes locked and a sibling-like rage developed in between them. Of course this only made those behind laugh that much harder.

Merle immediately turned on an instant and glared at the person that was behind her. "What is so funny Hitomi!?" she asked, not even realizing the words that had left her mouth. Of course the moment she did, her eyes shot back open. "HITOMI!"

"Oh Cr—"was the only thing that could leave her mouth before Hitomi was pounced on by an overly hyper cat-girl. Forcefully pushed onto the ground, Hitomi hit her head rather hard against the stone ground. A hand went to rub her head as the blonde began to remember how Merle acted when she was exited. "I'm happy to see you too Merle…"

"Oh Hitomi," she began, rubbing Hitomi in the same way she had Van only seconds before. Then, she began to rant…

"Hitomi, We missed you soo much. Van took over with the country and we rebuilt Fanelia but we never heard from you and then that butt head of a flippin hippie just up and disappeared from everyone's sight and Millerna was so confused, and King Aston was sick afterwards so Eries and Millerna have been running Asturia oh did I mention that Allen's sister, you remember Allen's sister Celena, yeah she has been officially documented as 'healthy' again, but after that Allen just sort of kinda lost connections with us because he's been so busy, oh Hitomi we were worried about you so much and we all miss you oh my god we need to contact Millerna and…"

By that time Van had already put a hand over Merle's mouth, as everything she had said was a complete run on sentence. "Breath Merle…" he whispered into her cat ear, reminding her of her mere mortal dependence on air, before slowly removing his hand. The cat took a deep breath before looking back at Hitomi who was wide eyed.

"I MISSED YOU SOO MUCH!!" she exclaimed before engulfing Hitomi into another huge hug.

Van laughed at the sight before him-- A true laugh. Merle perked her ears at the sound. It had been a long time since she last heard such a sound from the king. The cat smiled as she nuzzled her face into Hitmoi's golden locks. It's all back to the way it's supposed to be…

That's when Merle noticed a sound coming from under her. The cat lifted her pink head and looked at the girl in confusion. "Huh?" Merle hadn't heard a single syllable that came from her mouth.

"…can't…breath…"

Van immediately popped back into action. "Merle! Get off of her!" he complained trying to pull the cat girl off of Hitomi. "What good would it do to bring her back just for you to suffocate her?" As Merle rose to her feet, Hitomi began to take mouthfuls of air. As she gained her breath once again the blonde began to chase Merle in an attempt to murder her.

The two of them continued to run around the streets surrounding the entrance to the Gaean city. Van sighed as he hung his head again, baffled as to why all of the important women in his life acted like children sometimes. The solider that brought their horses walked up next to Van.

"Did you need the horses?" he asked, amused by the interesting turn of events which had appeared before him.

Van shook his head slightly."Apparently not," he mused to himself as he continued to watch them. "Those two will make it to the castle before long anyways," Van explained before placing his gloved hands in his pocket, following the two arguing girls with a grin on his face.

World of Warcraft—it has engulfed my life at the moment. I was so close to finishing this chapter WEEKS ago, but… WoW is not just a video game—it's anaddiction. An addiction in which once attached, is hard to let go.

On other news regarding the story—It's official. I need someone who keeps me on track with this thing. It's not that I don't have the story planned, nor that I don't possess the inspiration to write it, but rather I've lost the thought process as it is engulfed by other things. For a while it was D.Gray-man, then Dead or Alive4, then I somehow switched to Pokemon then to my latest obsession—World of Warcraft (For the Horde!). So yeah, I think I need some help with that. If it's hitting 2 weeks, or even worse, my e-mail specifically for is in my profile, so don't hesitate to send me an E-mail.

Well we switched into comedy! How can you not when re-uniting our favorite protagonists of Gaea? Next Chapter it's the return of our Resident Hippie!

TehDono has left the building!