Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Conversations Late At Night ❯ Conversations Late At Night ( Chapter 1 )

Okay! Here I am beginning Enicia short # 3, although this one will be a 'long short.' LOL. Anyway, this one should show you more about Enicia-chan, as well as about others in her family. It takes place pretty immediately after the last one.

--Enicia short three.--

Enicia took to her new duties as leader of defense immediately, checking with the sentries, making sure that they were properly supplied and were happy and in good health. Once that was done, she sat down with them and drew out plans of countering an attack from all directions. She made up lists of supplies they needed. The few who were in ill health, either sick or had been injured in training, she made an effort to spend time with them, making sure that they weren't bored or too unhappy. She tried to occupy herself with this work, tried not to spend too much time up at the castle.

Everyone up at the castle was depressed. As for comforting the others, Celena had pretty much taken on that role. They trusted her with their deepest feelings, deepest fears, and if these feelings and fears disconcerted her, she didn't let it show. So there was no real room for Enicia to comfort them--besides, she wasn't as good at it as her mother, she was afraid of making a mistake.

Most people, however, were attempting to feign good spirits. There was laughter around the dinner table and chatter in the hallways. There would be talk about the past... but then sometimes people would become quiet, thinking of the war.

Reena was one who could not feign good spirits. She was Gatti's wife, [she and Gatti come back to life in sequel 2 and then get married.] She had died, as a child, during the last war, and based on some kind of weird afterlife laws, had come back as an adult. But she was a shy and nervous person to start out, and now, with Gatti off on the battlefield once more, hundreds of miles away from her, here in a castle with no one she knew, she was afraid. She cried uncomprehendingly, like a child, and kept to herself. The care of her own small son and daughter had been delegated to the others, mainly Jajuka.

Enicia spent much time with the girls of her own age: Kara, her brother's wife, Yukari, her husband's sister, the cat-girl Tava, Damien's cousin's girlfriend. But it was Kara who seemed to depend on her most, and so it came as no real surprise when, late one night, Kara knocked on Enicia's door.

"Nika...? May I come in?" Kara called. Enicia sat up in bed and pulled on her dressing gown over her nightshift.

"Come in," she called. Kara entered and came to sit on the bed. "What's troubling you," Enicia asked softly.

Kara bit her lip. "I... I don't know.... I'm just scared about the war... both my father and Samech are off fighting in it, and..."

Enicia began to play with Kara's dark hair, as Kara came closer. "Well... I know it's not much comfort, but both Zayin and Samech aren't actually in the line of fire. They're both sending messages, in a leviship miles away from combat."

Kara nodded. "I know. But I know this war must be so hard for both of them. For Samech, to realize that every message he sends could end up with someone dying, even if it's an enemy, and for Zayin, to have to be involved in a war again... it would bring up so many painful memories... from when he was a kid and all..."

Enicia nodded. "Yeah... I have a feeling we'll all be somewhat shaken, when this is over. We'll all have our bad memories. But we've got each other, too, so we can heal..."

Kara nodded slowly. "Yes... but sometimes it's so hard for people that they can't heal... like Reena..."

"Reena..." Enicia murmured. "She'll be all right, won't she? Once Gatti comes back, it'll all be okay, right?"

"He'll come back, god willing." Kara murmured. "But this is war. And there are casualties in war."

"Dang, he was dead once! Couldn't he come back to life again? Now that he's got a reason?" but Enicia was just speculating. "Or I suppose that would be too much to ask."

"God willing, he lives." Kara whispered, then, "I'm so sorry, Enicia. I shouldn't complain. My husband and my father--they're both safe and far away from the fighting itself. But your father... your husband... they're in the thick of it... I'm so sorry... I was being inconsiderate, talking about..."

"It's on all of our minds." Enicia murmured. "What's troubling you tonight, specifically, though? You said things about your father... are you particularly troubled for him?"

Kara bit her lip, then nodded. "Yes... because he has so many bad memories of the war... did anyone tell you the story of his childhood?"

Enicia shook her head. "I only know that he was conscripted into the Zaibach army when he was five and escaped when he was seven... that he grew up in an Austurian village with your mother's family... and that things were pretty hard for him as a kid. But that's all."

Kara nodded. "Yeah... okay, his parents were Zaibach citizens. His mother, Leila, was a sweet, gentle, meek person who grew up in a little village. But when she was close to adulthood, her village got incoporated into the Heart of Zaibach--you know... the capital?"

Enicia nodded. "And Leila met his father there?"

"Yes... he was a popular young scientest, in the employ of the Zaibach army. He helped theorize about fate alteration." Enicia bit her lip at this mention, Kara continued. "He didn't know that his theories were being put into practical use. He was a goodly and moral man, Enicia. So, one day, Vosem, my grandfather, he discovered the horrible truth... that children were being experimented on to try to alter fate. He saw a child who had died--just a baby! After suffering for a long time... he saw this, and was utterly shocked. And then, he and Leila decided that they would have nothing to do with a country which did such awful things, and Vosem offered to quit his work for the Zaibach army. He planned to take the family to Austuria, and live a quiet life. At this time, Leila was pregnant with Zayin."

"Of course, the Zaibach officials wouldn't let him do that..." Enicia replied, that much was clear. Kara nodded swiftly, almost nervously, and then continued.

"Yeah... the Zaibach people watched Vosem. They put him in prison for a while. They made him sign things saying he didn't actually make the discoveries which were under his name. They barred the borders to him and Leila... and, after Zayin was born, they said that they would conscript Zayin into their army when Zayin was old enough."

Enicia nodded. "That... would suck."

"Yeah... so Zayin grew to be five years old there. Vosem was working on finding some kind of secret transport out to Austuria, and meanwhile, Zayin had to pretend that he was the normal brainwashed kid. But he had really good abilities in swordplay and in intelligence, and even though he tried to hide his abilities, the Zaibach commanders noticed him and realized that they wanted him in their army very badly.

"One day, when Zayin was five, his father had finally worked out some kind of arrangements. After school, Leila dressed Zayin up in his warmest clothes and they went to meet his father where he worked. Then, they took a carriage and headed out of the city. But.... only a few miles outside of the city gates, they were stopped by a party of soldiers. Zayin was taken from them and was... was tied up... while the soldiers killed his parents... he won't tell me the details... only that it was brutal... and then the soldiers forced him to be in their army."

"Be in their army?" Enicia asked, surprised, "But he was only a little kid!"

"They wanted to train the kids from an early age, to make them grow up the way they wanted. It was awful there, he says. Nobody wanted to be there... even those who had joined voluntarily hated it after a while. One kid tried to escape... he was caught and killed as an example. My younger brother is named for him."

Enicia's face was growing white with shock and anger. "That's just wrong..." she whispered. "That's just..."

"I know," Kara whispered. "It's hard for me to imagine. Shall... I continue?"

Enicia nodded. "Continue."

"Well, after a time, he escaped. He pretended to kill himself and he escaped. He came to my mother's village in Asturia, and grew up with her family. He's pretty happy now... his life is good now, but he will never forget... and war won't help him,... and..." Kara suddenly burst into tears. "I'm scared."

Enicia came closer to Kara, cradling her head against her shoulder. "Ssshh..." she whispered. "It's natural to be scared. But you need to think... we didn't start this war. And we're fighting to end it. Because we want peace. We don't want any more kids to grow up with that kind of memories. We, who tell these stories... we want it so that future generations won't have these stories to tell."

"Enicia... aren't you scared?"

"Of course I'm scared. But..."

"Since you're strong you hide it."

"I suppose. You need to be comforted."

"Who comforts you?"

Enicia shrugged, and changed the subject. "So, after the war's over, are you spending the first 6 months with us or with Zayin?"

"I don't know... Can I tell you a secret?"

"Okay."

Kara smiled shyly. "Samech and I... when the war is over... we want to have a child."

Enicia clapped her hands. "That would be so wonderful! Would you want it to be a boy or a girl...?"

Kara grinned. "Well... it's not like I could choose... I would like either... but a girl would be nice... I would call her Leila if it was a girl...."

Enicia nodded. "I'm sure that your father would be honored by that...."

"Yeah...." Kara sighed. "I think he would... " she yawned.

"Are you sleepy?"

"Yeah..."

"Do you think that you would want to go back to your room? Or you can sleep in here if you want to...."

"Could I, really?" Kara asked.

"Yeah, sure!" Enicia pulled out a thick rug and dumped a blanket and pillow from her bed on it. "Is that good...?"

Kara sat down on the rug. "Mmm... thanks!"

"Any time. Now get to sleep, okay?" Kara smiled and laid down. Enicia laid down too, but although soon she could hear Kara's deep, sleeping breaths, she herself did not seem tired anymore.

Enicia picked up her book and idly tried to read it, but she wasn't really interested. So she tried lying down with her eyes closed, but this just let her anxieties ferment in her mind. So then she sat up, not doing anything. Who does comfort me...?

It seemed like hours later when there came another knock on her door. Rising quietly, she came to open it, a finger to her lips; Kara was asleep. It was Yukari, standing there in a nightgown, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, and her eyes scared.

"Did you want to talk?" Enicia asked softly, "Is it okay if we talk out here...? Kara-chan is sleeping in my room."

Yukari nodded and forced out. "Y..yeah it's okay." She led Enicia over to a nearby windowseat, and the two sat down.

"So... what's going on?" Enicia asked, "You look all shaken up. Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"The wars... won't end..." Yukari murmured. "The wars... they aren't going to end."

Enicia looked at Yukari nervously. "What do you mean, the wars won't end...?" Enicia remembered stories that she had heard as a child, of the war and Hitomi, Yukari's mother, her visions... how sometimes she would be seized by a vision or premonition and when it would end, she would babble incoherently, trying to warn others of what she had seen. "Why aren't the wars going to end?" Enicia asked gently.

"It's because of our blood... of the Draconian blood..." Yukari insisted. "We have war in our blood. We who created Gaea have war in our blood and the blood of other people on our hands. You know... all of Zaibach's aims and everything that they did with fate alteration... at least according to Dornkirk's ideas... he wanted to end wars on Gaea and make peace. But as it showed with his fate alteration and Zone of Absolute Fortune, it all didn't work. You can't just change fate, and for that... it means that there will always be wars on Gaea..."

"Who... who told you that...?" Enicia asked shakily. "Did you see that in a dream, or...?"

"I... I saw it in a dream... war is in our blood."

"Some say that human nature is pugnacious, and that war is in all of our blood, but I don't really think that that's the case," Enicia replied, holding Yukari's hand. "If so many people hate and deplore war for what it does to them and those whom they care for, how could all of humanity be pugnacious?"

Yukari bit her lip. "It's not all of humanity... it's just us... the Draconians... we're the ones with war in our blood..."

Enicia sighed. "You know what, Yukari? Let me tell you something, something that you should appreciate, since you're both Draconian and psychic. Well... a few weeks ago, right after Damien left, I was feeling very alone and uneasy, and I went to talk to your mother. And she told me something that I found very true... and very helpful. You see, this planet is very suggestible to the wishes of its inhabitants, much more so than Earth is. Your uneasy feelings can make bad things happen, or make the future that is chosen by the world bad. However, if you fill your heart with hope and love and trust, the future will more likely be good. So... Hitomi told me to believe in Damien. And I will tell you to believe in Carlos, to believe in Damien, to believe in your father... to believe in all of the soldiers from our side... all those who are fighting... fighting for peace, so that our children can grow up in sunlight, without fear, without hate. Believe in them. And believe in yourself, Yukari, hime of Fanelia. believe that you can help too, simply through your belief, simply through staying strong."

"Nika-chan..." Yukari whispered, "You... you sound almost like... you want to fight for peace, too..."

"I do..." Enicia murmured. "I hate being here when my brother... my father... my husband... and everyone else... are risking their lives for us. I can fight. I know how. I don't want to sit by helpless... but since I'm a girl..."

Yukari nodded. "Well... you're working hard. You're defending all of us... and you're managing communications between us and them, as well as our Earthside contacts... so in a way... you are fighting."

Enicia sighed. "I know. But sometimes... I just wish I could... do something that was more helpful. I mean, I'm good at swords... I was always one of the best... and I don't want someone to die in a sword duel that, had it been me, I could had won..." Enicia began to cry and suddenly found that her head was resting against Yukari's shoulder, her tears wetting Yukari's shoulder, Yukari's hands gently patting her hair, trying to soothe her. Enicia sighed and pulled back. What in the world was she doing? She had come out to support Yukari... what was she doing crying and getting all emotional? This wasn't helping things at all! "Forgive me," she murmured stiffly.

"No, no," Yukari exclaimed, looking up. "You've helped me a lot. I'm honored to be able to comfort you. I know that you pretend to not need our support, and I am glad that you trust me enough to show me your feelings."

Enicia nodded, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her own nightgown. "Then, thank you."

"Umm... Nika-chan?" Yukari asked nervously.

"Yeah...?"

"I know that Kara is already sleeping in your room, but..."

Enicia smiled. "Sure! I've got plenty of rugs and blankets. Come on. The more the merrier, eh?"

And the women walked back, hand in hand, to Enicia's room.

--end Enicia 'short' #3--