Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Falling ❯ Catch Me When I Fall ( Chapter 2 )

Giving one last look at the spot where his true love had last stood, he headed out of the forest.
That was when he heard the scream.
"VAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the boy in red recognized it instantly as being Hitomi, but where was she? He looked to the sky and saw her, plummeting towards her death.

"HITOMI!" he cried, watching her fall. Swiftly but surely, he pulled off his shirt and jumped into the air, his majestic wings unfurling behind him as he did so. He flew as fast as he could to the falling figure. "HITOMI!!!!" he yelled again, only a few feet away from her. Flapping downward, he managed to firmly grasp her hand in his, and quickly put his other arm under her legs to support her. Then, he brought his other hand up to support her back, slowly guiding them back towards the ground.
"Oh Van!" the girl sobbed, burying her head against his shoulder. Van felt her tears as they hit his skin.
"It's okay, Hitomi," he tried to comfort her, but was greatly unused to that sort of thing. So he remained silent.
Looking down below, he saw that most of the people of Fanelia had seen him. He didn't care. Most of them knew, anyway, from the incident that had happened when he was a child. They had all known that Varie was a Draconian, it only would have made sense that her son was one as well.
Besides, Van had saved the girl he loved, nothing else mattered.
His feet touched the ground, and reluctantly, he let go of Hitomi. She stepped a few feet away from Van, finding a large boulder to sit on in the shade of the forest's trees. She looked down at her sneakers, seeming to find interest in the shoes she had worn every day for the past several months.
Van sighed and tucked his wings back into his back. Carefully, he picked up his red shirt and pulled it back over his chest. He then approached the girl... no, the woman, he had just saved. He crouched down in front of her.
"Hitomi..." he began softly.
"Thank you, Van." she said quickly. "For saving me."
For a moment, there was silence. Then Van spoke. "Hitomi, what happened?"
She didn't answer him at first. Her voice was barely audible as she formed the words. "I don't know." Her head was turned, as if hiding something.
Van was generally an impatient person. But if he had to wait all day to get an answer, he would. He had to know what happened.
"I... I was headed back home..." Hitomi began, her voice wavering. I was so high up... when suddenly, the light just... disappeared! That's when I started falling and now... here I am."
The young king didn't know what to say. The pillar of light vanishing? Malfunctioning?It just didn't seem right... maybe... maybe it was because she didn't have the pendant in possesion! No, that couldn't be it. When Van raised the energist, he had the combined forces of the dragon's heart and the stone of tears. So what was it?
"Lord Van!!" came a half-hearted squeal. "I'll be right back," he promised Hitomi, and went over to be tackled by the catgirl.
"Oh Lord Van!" Merle wailed, hugging him close. From her position on the large stone, Hitomi could hear the sadness in her voice. "She's gone, isn't she? Hitomi is gone!" She held him tighter, tears beginning to form.
"Wait, Merle--" Van began, but Merle continued.
"You didn't even tell her, did you?" the catgirl said accusingly. "Now she's gone back to the Mystic Moon, and you never even told her--" she was cut off by Van's 'hush' motion.
Tell me? wondered Hitomi. Tell me what?
"Merle, you don't understand..." Van sighed, and decided to return to Hitomi. The pink-haired girl clung to his arm, and received the surprise of her life when they rounded the forest edge.
"HITOMI!" she shouted gleefully, tacklehugging the unexpectant girl. Hitomi giggled and returned the hug, and then squirmed out of Merle's grasp. Merle eyed her carefully. "You're still here?" she asked incredulously. "But I thought..." she turned to Van. "Lord Van... that's the reason that you were in the sky? You brought her back?"
The Fanel shook his head. "The pillar of light seems to have... malfunctioned." he said flatly.
"Oh." Merle couldn't think of a better thing to say. She glanced furtively at Hitomi. She didn't go back home... so why is she slightly smiling?
"Well Hitomi," the catgirl piped up. "If you're going to be staying in Fanelia a little longer than we thought, maybe we should arrange for some sort of room for you."
Hitomi smiled a little and nodded. Immediately, the tailed girl grabbed Hitomi's wrist and lead the way to the castle, leaving Van to his thoughts. So Hitomi is going to stay for a little while... the notion caused Van's spirits to be lifted. He fingered the pendant that rested against his collarbone, half thinking about Hitomi, half thinking about a way to get her home. The only problem was, once here, he would never want to let her go.

"Sorry about the mess." Merle said, a sweatdrop appearing on her head. The castle had been thoroughly damaged from Dilandau's rampage. It had only been a few days since the citizens of Fanelia had returned and had started to work on their reconstruction. The castle had remained, for the most part, untouched, as upon their return, the king had not been there. Sunlight flooded through the giant holes that were apparent in most of the rooms. The floors were covered with fallen boards and rubble. Windows were smashed, leaving sharred glass edges and shutters that hung onto the windowframe by only a sliver of wood. The paint was peeling, and fallen snuffed torches littered the ground. In the main hall, the carpet was torn as if by some savage beast, and the throne was only half there. It seemed that everything had some sort of charred mark, as if Dilandau himself had personally seen to it that every object in the castle be scorched.
"It's a wreck." commented Merle, as if Hitomi was unable to see it for herself. "Most of the rooms was completely destroyed. There are one or two, however, that seem fine." Merle lead Hitomi down a dark hallway, carefully stepping over the ruins. She pointed to a pair of doors, which were quite demolished. "That's Lord Van's room." she said. Looking inside, Hitomi saw that it was a little less destroyed than the other rooms they had previously visited.
"It's very nice." she remarked politely. Merle nodded impatiently before scampering up to a room a few doors down. It had no door, it had been ripped off its hinges and lay a few feet away.
"This used to be one of the noblemen's rooms." she said, carefully walking in. "But now it's mine. The noblemen haven't returned yet."
The room was in shambles. There were no windows, and Hitomi had to be very cautious so to not trip over the long boards that lay against the walls and floor.
"I like the open windows." Merle said gleefully. "It makes it easier to get around Fanelia." she jumped up onto the windowsill and watched as the people down below worked on their homes. "So, Hitomi." she said, a sly tone in her voice. "Whose room would you like to stay in? Mine..." she grinned devilishly at the girl as she added, "Or Lord Van's?"
"What do you mean by that, Merle??" Hitomi demanded angrily. Merle snickered. "I'll stay in your room if you don't mind." but silently, she wished she could stay with Van. But then again, what was the point? He probably didn't like her as she hoped.
"What the--" Hitomi began, something on Merle's bed catching her eye. "How did this get here?"

A/N: owowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow!!!!!!!!! ; _ ; PAIN!!!! GAAAAAAHHHH!!!
Sorry, this chapter wasn't written at my best. You see, I just had a lovely visit to a wonderful place called the orthodontist. Erggggg.... damn these braces!
*will
be
fine* LOL
Please read and review. I promise, the story will get interesting. If you are a V/H fan, you've come to the right place. In further chapters (if this is worthy of continuing), there will be some V/H fluff. But those chapters will come when I'm not in agonizing... agony. When I'm in pain, I write pain (right now, if I was doing a V/H 'romantic' scene, instead of a kiss I'd probably have it end up with the couple yelling their hearts out at each other... @_@)
05.01.01