Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ For the love of a Dragon ❯ Chapters 11-14 ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 11: Help

Merle had a messenger sent to tell Allen, Millerna and Dryden to come to Fanelia immediately. Something definitely was not right. Both girls went back to comfort Hitomi. "Go away Merle and Yukari, please. I want to be alone." she said wiping away more tears. Neither of them were going start up an argument with her. She didn't need anymore pain. When Merle pass that blond woman in the hallway later that day she got a familiar feeling from her as if she had met her before.

"Strange," she whispered under breath. Yukari looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?"

"I feel as if I've met her before." both continued walking down the hallway.

Hitomi walked onto the balcony and stared at the horizon. Why? She wondered, he said he loved me. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from the door. She looked to see it was. Just her luck it was the one person she never wanted to see again.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my castle?" he asked coldly. Once again she could feel her heart break.

"Van, it's me, Hitomi. Don't you remember me?" her jaw trembled as she held back more tears.

"I don't know anyone named Hitomi. So what are you doing in my castle?" he asked again. She couldn't answer him. "What, don't have an answer? Well since you refuse to give me answer, you're a thief. Guards!" he yelled. Two guards entered the room. "Escort this thief to the dungeons." he ordered. She couldn't believe what he was doing to her. The two guards grabbed her and threw into an empty dungeon cell.

Later Merle decided they should check up on Hitomi. When they opened the door, the bed was empty and there was no sign of Hitomi. Yukari checked the balcony but it was empty.

"Where could she be?" Yukari wondered aloud.

"Merle, what are you and your friend doing in the guest room?" Van asked leaning on the door frame.

"Hitomi was in here earlier, we came to check up on her." he rolled his eyes.

"Oh are you talking about that thief I caught in here today? Well she's in the dungeons." Merle's jaw dropped.

"You put her in the dungeons! What the fuck were you thinking Van!" Merle scolded him. Yukari could tell Merle was really angry, she had called him just Van and not Van-sama like she usually did.

"Hey you have no right to rise your voice at me cat!" he yelled back at her. "Any ways, she wouldn't tell why she was here." Merle was more than angry at Van. As she and Yukari left the room she gave him a cold glare.

"So Van darling, when do you want to get married?" the blond woman asked him as she wrapped her arms around his firm chest.

"Two nights from tomorrow Desdamona." he said caressing her long silky wild hair.

"Why not tomorrow night?" she asked using the puppy dog face technique but it wasn't working. When he turned his head away from her she sprinkled more dust on his head. "So, how about tomorrow night?" he smiled and kissed her deeply and passionately.

"Does that answer your question my love?" she smiled evilly and nodded.

Merle and Yukari went to the dungeons to get Hitomi out of there. "Excuse me Lady Merle, but I was told not to let anyone down here." the towering guard told the young cat woman. She just glared at him and began to look at her claws.

"Don't make me have to use these or these on you." she told him as she held up her claws and then pointed at her teeth.

"I'm sorry Lady Merle but her highness-"

"Her highness?? Who are you talking about?" she interrupted the guard.

"Um the Lady Desdamona, she and his highness are getting married tomorrow's eve." Merle and Yukari's eyes widened.

"This place is just like one big soap opera." Yukari commented. Merle gave her a funny look. "Don't ask." Merle just nodded and turned back to the guard.

"I'm sorry miladies but I have strict orders." Merle whispered something to Yukari and they both left. They were going to wait for Allen, Millerna and Dryden to show up to help them get Hitomi out of the stinking cell and knock some sense into Van. They went and waited at the entrance to the castle for them.

"There they are!" Yukari shouted in excitement as she saw her knight in shining armour and Millerna and Dryden arrive. Allen climbed down from his chocolate coloured horse and received a large hug from Yukari.

"What's the matter? The messenger said it was very urgent." Millerna asked very concerned. Merle stepped forward.

"Van threw Hitomi in the dungeon and is getting married to some blond bitch named Desdamona." All of them were shocked at Merle had told them. Why had he thrown Hitomi in the dungeon? Allen wondered and where did this Desdamona come from? "Here, come and follow us to the dungeons. The guards wouldn't let us down there." Merle motioned for them to follow her.

When they reached the dungeons, Allen tried to compromise with the guard but he wouldn't accept so he gave him a hard blow to the head. Merle grabbed the ring of keys which hung from his belt. They searched for Hitomi's cell which was the one in the darkest corner. Frantically, Merle tried to find the right key to open the cell. She finally found it and as soon as the door was open Yukari ran over to Hitomi's side.

"Oh Hitomi! Are you okay?" Yukari asked hugging her poor friend.

"He-he-he had me thrown in the dungeon. He doesn't know who I am." she was still in shock.

"Come on, we're getting you out of here." Allen said as he helped Hitomi to her feet. They slowly made their way out of the dungeon and to the front foyer of the castle. "You five watch her, I'm going to see Van." Allen said as he left in search of Van.

Van and Desdamona sat under the starry night sky in the garden having a late night picnic.

"Van, what's the meaning of this?" Allen asked calmly as he approached Van.

"What's the meaning of what Allen?" he asked confused.

"Why are with her and why did you throw Hitomi into the dungeons?" he demanded. Van laughed a cold and evil laugh.

"She was an intruder and this is my wife to be."

"Wife? Have you gone mad!?" Van felt offended by his words so he drew his sword and prepared himself for a battle. Allen had no choice but to fight him.

The five waited impatiently for Allen to return. Not too long after he had left, a bunch of young guards ran by them. Merle stopped on of the and asked was going on.

"The king and the knight Allen Schazar are duelling each other in the garden." he answered and ran off. The group of five followed them. They squeezed their way through the crowed. Shockingly, Van was actually doing better. They all had a feeling something was very wrong. Their fight raged on for an hour. Allen began to grow tired but Van seemed to grow stronger with ever blow he hit Allen with. Hitomi began to hear a voice echoing in her head. It were telling her how she could win Van's heart back. "Are you sure?" she asked it inwardly. The voice answered yes. Allen fell to the ground and as he tried to stand up, Van began to charge at him. Hitomi ran out in front of Allen. Van's sword thrusted itself into Hitomi's body. Everyone was shocked at her action.

"No Hitomi!" Allen yelled as he knelt down beside her. Van looked at his bloody sword and back at her. Millerna, Yukari and Merle forced their way towards Hitomi who laid on the ground bleeding heavily. Memories began to flood back to Van. He dropped his sword and fell to his knees.

Chapter 12: Darkness

Desdamona began to get worried. She walked over to Van knelt down beside him. She placed her hand on his back his body stiffened. He starred at her. "Who are you?" he demanded. She held her breath for a second. What the fuck happened? She wondered.

"It's me, Desdamona, your soon to be wife."

"What? Wife? I don't even know you." he looked in front of him and saw Hitomi bleeding and in Allen's arms. He got up and walked over to them. "What happened to her?" they all gave him strange looks.

"Allen, we have to get her inside now!" Millerna shouted as she tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the wound. They all went inside the castle and Allen brought Hitomi to the operating room with Millerna. Merle, Yukari, Dryden and Van waited outside of the room.

"What happened?" Van asked them again.

"Van, don't you remember anything?" Merle asked just as confused as everyone else in the castle.

"I don't remember anything except that my pendent has gone missing." Merle looked at Yukari who shook her head no. Merle wasn't too happy having to be the one to tell him everything that had happened.

"Okay, here's what happened. You were up all night in the thrown room then this morning you said you were going to marry some blond bitch and you even said you didn't know who Hitomi was and when you saw her, you thought she was a thief and had her thrown in the dungeons. Me and Yukari then had a messenger sent to Astoria to tell Millerna, Dryden and Allen to get here as soon as possible to figure out what the hell was wrong with you. When we got Hitomi out of the dungeons, Allen went to find you and talk to you but you didn't want to talk or something and then you two got into a sword fight. Then . . . Hitomi ran in front of Allen when you were going to attack him. Then you dropped your sword and fell to your knees." Merle explained to him quickly. Van couldn't believe what she had told him. He sat down and guilt over came him.

"Hey, where is that Desdamona girl?" Yukari asked. Merle stood up from her seat on the bench and ran down the hallway. She ran back to the garden which was empty.

"Shit!" she said in silence to herself.

Nefra stood over a large cauldron in her lab. She poured in red, blue, green and white liquids into her concoction. The purple mist which filled the air surrounded her. She could feel the power from the spell and pendent flow through her veins. Her eyes became a pure, solid, lifeless black. Her ebony hair grew longer and crimson streaks appeared in her long, straight hair. The pendent around her neck glowed a bright pink then a midnight black. She went and stood on the roof of the dark castle. She held her arms high above her head. Dark clouds formed in the sky above her and began to spread faster and faster. Darkness and evil engulfed the entire castle and land surrounding it.

Millerna walk out of the operating room and had a smile on her face. "She'll be just fine." she told them. They all let out a sigh of relief. Van stood up and asked Millerna if he could see her. "Yes but she wont be awake for another few minutes." Van didn't care if she wasn't awake, he had to see her and apologize for making her suffer so much. He went in alone and sat down by the operating bed where Hitomi laid. He held her hand in his and kissed her forehead. He then ran his fingers through her silky chestnut brown hair.

"Van? Is that you?" she asked weakly.

"Yes it's me Hitomi, I'm so sorry-"

"Van, you don't have to apologize . . . it wasn't your fault . . . It was Desdamona . . . She had put a spell on you. I saw it in a vision." she let out a small tired yawn.

"Why did your run out in front of Allen when I was about to attack?" He asked holding her hand tightly.

"It was the only way to break the spell. A voice in my vision told me so. I'm not sure who it was, but it worked." she smiled weakly at him. He bent over placed a kiss on her forehead again.

"You need to get some rest, so go to sleep and I'll check up on you later after I find this Desdamona girl." he then left the room. As he walked past his room her heard a woman's voice. He peered in and saw some blonde woman talking to a hand mirror.

"What?! That bitch! She was waiting for me to leave the country to take over! I'll be there soon." she placed the mirror down on a table. She then saw Van standing in the door way. Just as she was about to speak the ground began to shake. She lost her balance and fell. Van knew there was something not right so he ran onto his balcony and looked out on the horizon. He could see pitch black clouds heading towards Fanelia. The blond woman stood up and walked onto the balcony as well. As they both looked more closely they could see some sort of black ghost like figure heading right for them. It went and surrounded the blond woman and her appearance changed. She no longer had icy blue eyes and wild blonde hair, she now had long straight raven black hair and coal black eyes. Her clothes changed as well, she now wore a long tight fitting black velvet dress.

"What happened?" she asked herself as she looked into the mirror. Van then remembered Hitomi and dashed down the hallways to go and protect her. He didn't want to let her down again.

"Van-sama! What's going on?" Merle asked as she and Van ran back to the others.

"I don't know and I don't have a good feeling about it either." he answered her. Van ran back into the operating room and looked at the bed which was empty. "Hitomi where are you?" he asked.

"Over here." she answered from the other side of the room.

"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked as he approached her.

"Millerna gave this medicine that healed my wound in seconds and I felt the ground shake and knew I had to get dressed." both made their way out of the room and as they did they could hear an evil laughter echo through the halls.

"Pathetic little humans . . ." the voice hissed. As Siren walked down the hallway towards the others she stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened when she heard the voice. "You can't defeat me . . ." it hissed again.

"Where are you mother!?" Siren yelled. Dryden, Millerna, Allen, Van, Hitomi, Merle and Yukari all looked at her.

"Who are you?" Allen asked immediately. She smiled and then it disappeared.

"You may know me as Desdamona, but my real name is Princess Siren Magiquian and that voice is my mother, Nefra. I set her free from her prison in the world of mirrors because she said she would help me win over the heart of the man I most desire." she felt horrible for causing so much damage. She didn't know why. Before she loved seeing others suffer but now, she couldn't bear to see it.

Chapter 13: A Past Revealed

"Hey, didn't you try to steal Van-sama before?" Merle asked angrily.

"Yes I did. But I'm not sure as to why I would go so far to have him." she placed her hand on her forehead as it began to throb with pain. She ripped off her neckless which had a black oval shaped gem on her it . As she held it in her hand, it began to glow and then shattered into pieces. The pain in her head faded away and a black mist once again surrounded her. Everyone kept their distance, afraid of what might happen. Her hair became a straight golden blond and her eyes changed to a royal blue. She fell to her knees and let out a sigh of relief.

"Who or what are you?" Millerna asked out of curiosity. A smile lifted on her face as she removed her gaze from the marble floor to the group surrounding her.

"My name is Princess Siren Magiquian. This is the real me." she looked as if she could have cried with joy.

"What do you mean the real you?" Dryden asked her.

"The Siren you saw before was controlled by the dark influence of my mother. You see, when I was very young, she gave that neckless to me as a birthday gift. It was that neckless that made the way I was, selfish, greedy and just plain old evil." she explained as she stood up weakly. She then turned to Hitomi. "I'm so sorry Hitomi for all I put you through. I'm so sorry for tricking you into thinking Van didn't love you, for sending to the worlds of Dreams, and for stealing your true love away from you." tears rolled down her soft pale cheeks.

"You don't need to feel guilty-"

"But I do! I put you through so much. You didn't deserve it." she said interrupting Hitomi.

"It wasn't your fault you were evil. It was your mother's, Nefra." Siren wiped away her tears and a smile returned to her face. Suddenly the ground began to shake again but more violently than before. Everyone ran out onto the balcony off of the library study which was just down the hall from the operating room. In the sky they could see Nefra floating in mid air with black bat like wings wide open. She let out another evil laughter.

"You pathetic humans! You will never be able to stop me!" she hissed and laughed again.

"What is it you want!?" Allen yelled at her angrily.

"What do you think? I want to rule all of Gaea and the Mystic Moon! But first I plan on plunging both worlds into complete and total darkness." she smiled wickedly at the and moved closer.

"I wont let you, you bitch!" Siren yelled as she gather a ball of fire in her right hand and threw it towards her mother. Nefra smiled and held out her hand stopping the blast. She then created her own ball of fire and threw it at her daughter. Siren tried to stop it but it was to powerful for her. She hit the wall behind her hard and fell to the floor.

"Siren!" Yukari yelled in shock. Hitomi ran over to her to see if she was alright.

"Are you okay?" Siren nodded and stood up.

"Your powers could never compare to mine!" Nefra said with another one of her evil laughters.

"You know, I'm starting to get really sick and tired of that laugh!" Merle said clenching her fist. Yukari nodded in agreement.

"How will we stop her? She's obviously more stronger than we are." Allen asked the group. Everyone was silent. No one had any ideas or suggestions. Once again, Hitomi began to hear the same voice that she heard earlier calling her name. She looked around and everything went black.

"Who are you?" she asked the voice. A white female figure began to take form in the distance. The figure walked towards Hitomi. She was tall and slender. She had long, thin chocolate brown hair. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue and her skin was a nice tan colour like Hitomi's. She wore a short brown leather dress with matching arm length gloves and thigh high boots. "Who are you?" Hitomi asked the woman again. She smiled at Hitomi.

"I am your real mother Hitomi." startled, she took a step back.

"Real mother? What do you mean?" the woman laughed silently to herself.

"Well, your real name is Aria Mekia and my name is Selenna Mekia. About three months after your birth, our village was attacked by a group of evil sorcerers. I had only one choice to ensure your survival. That choice was to use my power to send you to the Mystic Moon. This explains why you have the power to see the unseen and predict the future. The pendent and your cards had a little to do with it. Our people were the Tsumishi people; the magical people. We could do anything with our powers that was not for selfish deeds." Hitomi stood there stunned at what she had just learned. "Only you can stop Nefra." she still couldn't believe what this woman had told her. She wasn't really from Earth but from Gaea and she had some strange power within her. Selenna disappeared and Hitomi was brought back to reality.

"Hitomi? Are you okay?" Millerna asked snapping Hitomi out of her trance.

"Uh, ya sorta." all of them knew she had had another vision. Yukari was the first to ask her. She wasn't exactly sure how to explain what she had saw or more likely she was afraid of how they would all react. "I, I saw my real mother. And she said that I was the only one who could stop Nefra." they all looked at Hitomi confused. Nefra soon caught notice of Hitomi's increasing power. She held her right hand above her head and gathered a ball of dark energy and threw it at Hitomi. Everyone except Hitomi ran for cover. She stared at the dark ball of energy heading straight for her.

"Hitomi run!" Van shouted at her. She ignored his call and placed both hands in front of her. The dark ball of energy came into contact with her hands and with all her might, she bounced it back towards Nefra who dodged it. Everyone stared at her completely stunned.

"Where did she learn that?!" Merle asked astonished. No one could answer her question except Hitomi.

"I'm not what I seem." she began. They looked at her urging for her to continue. "In my vision I saw my real mother. She was one of the Tsumishi people here on Gaea." everyone except Yukari knew what she was talking about.

"But all of the Tsumishi people died out about twenty one years ago-"

"Which was when I was born. My mother sent me to Earth just before she was killed by the this evil group of sorcerers." she said interrupting Dryden. All of them were speechless.

Nefra was enraged that such a weak looking girl was able to deflect her attack. Hitomi turned and looked back at Nefra. She gathered a ball of pure white energy in her hand in front of her and thrusted it towards Nefra who readied herself for the on coming attack. She was able to control it for only a few minutes. She then quickly moved out of the way and headed straight for Hitomi. She held her hand above her head and a black sword materialized in it. Hitomi too held her hand above her head and a golden sword appeared in her hand as well. Their swords clanged together. It was light versus darkness. Only one would come out the victor.

A dark black aurora formed around Nefra and a golden aurora formed around Hitomi as the two battled each other. Every now and then they would throw energy blasts at each other. Nefra then came up with an evil plan. Both stopped fighting as Nefra floated backwards up into the sky. She crossed her arms across her chest tightly then released them creating two clones of herself.

"What the fuck?!" Hitomi shout stunned. The three Nefras attack Hitomi at once. She was barely able to fight all three. She heard her mother's soft voice again and did as she told her. Hitomi vanished in a bright flash. The three Nefras looked around as did Hitomi's friends. Suddenly, there were two bright beams of light that killed the two clones from behind. Everyone turned to where the beams of light came from and saw a very different looking Hitomi. She wore a long gold leather dress with slits on both sides of it that went up to her thighs and a golden sword hung from her belt. She also wore golden leather elbow length gloves and knee high boots. Her hair was longer and had golden streaks in it.

"Is, is that Hitomi?" Millerna asked in astonishment. Hitomi looked at them and smiled.

"Hitomi was my Earth name. I am Aria Mekia, Princess of the Tsumishi people." she proclaimed.

Chapter 14: Endings and Beginnings

"Princess?" Yukari repeated. Hitomi smiled and nodded.

"This is all so weird! If she's the Tsumishi princess, that means she's one of the most powerful people on Gaea" Merle, just like everyone else, was confused by what was happening. Yukari shot her a strange look so she explained.

"You see, the Tsumishi people are or were the most powerful race of people on Gaea, literally and of course, their rulers were the most powerful people. Also, the Tsumishi people are said to have been distant relatives of the Atlantians, the creators of Gaea." Yukari's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that her friend that she had known pretty much most had such a astonishing background.

Hitomi and Nefra's battle raged on. For a few moments it had seemed as if Nefra would win but Hitomi blasted her with a large beam of energy. She simply dodged it like the others and continued to attack. Siren observed their battle carefully and with concern for Hitomi. As she looked closely at her mother, she noticed the black oval jewel on tiara was the source of her dark power.

"Hitomi! Destroy her tiara!" she shouted to her. Hitomi nodded and began to try and attack it. Nefra quickly disappeared and reappeared behind Siren. She grabbed and twisted her wrist behind her back.

"You foolish little girl! You were always a worthless and pathetic excuse for a daughter!" Nefra yelled into her daughters ear. The tighter she squeezed, the louder Siren screamed out in pain. "So Aria, are you still gonna attack me?" she asked with an evil laugh. Hitomi slowly floated down onto the balcony. She clenched her hands into fists and held them at her sides. Her aurora grew larger and brighter. With her left hand she created a bow and with her right hand she created an arrow and took aim.

"What is she doing?! There's no way she can hit Nefra without killing Siren?!" Merle asked confused. Hitomi then let go of the arrow. Nefra held Siren in front of her using her as a shield. The arrow passed right through Siren and into Nefra who then took a few steps back. Siren looked down at her body and noticed she was fine. She turned around and saw her mother standing there with a golden arrow through her stomach. Black blood dripped down her gown and onto the white marble balcony.

"How the hell did that happen?" Van stuttered. The bow disappeared from Hitomi's hand as she brought them back to her sides and turned to Van and the others.

"That arrow will only kill those who are truly evil." she explained. She then turned to Siren who was obviously confused. "You see, your heart was not evil even though in the past you had committed some evil crimes, it wasn't your fault. You were never really evil but your mother with or without that jewel was pure evil." Nefra began to bleed more heavily but wasn't willing to give up.

"I'll kill you!" she shouted as she blasted an attack at Hitomi with her last ounce of power. Hitomi held her hand out and stopped it. Nefra fell to the ground and took her last breath. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her body faded and vanished. The darkness that covered the land, too, disappeared. Hitomi's aurora dimmed down and faded away and her hair returned to it's normal length but the golden streaks remained. She fell to her knees from exhaustion. Van ran over and supported her as she sat down on the ground.

"Hitomi, are you going to be okay?" he asked holding her in a protective embrace. She smiled and nodded at him. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to his room where he layed her down on the bed. She quickly nodded off to sleep shortly after he placed her in his bed.

The following morning everyone gathered in the dinning hall for the morning meal. Hitomi still wore her golden leather dress, boots and gloves. Siren showed up wearing something a little different from what she use to wear. She was wearing a long, royal blue, squar neck, velvet dress that clung to her slim body's curves. She wore her long golden hair down and she had a warm smile across her face.

"So Siren, what are you going to do now?" Merle asked out of curiosity.

"I'm going back to my homeland today when the sun reaches mid sky and rebuild it. I plan to rid all the evil that I have brought upon my country in the past sixteen years." her voice was both warm and sincere. They were all glad she had been freed from her evilness.

After Siren left, Millerna and Dryden had to go back to Astoria before their council gets over worried. "So what happens now?" Yukari asked as she sat down on the green marble bench in the garden.

"What do you mean?" Hitomi asked as she gave her a strange look.

"Well, do we stay here, does one of us leave etc. What happens now?" she tried to explain. Allen went and sat down beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist causing her to blush a bright red.

"Well, where ever you go, I'll go." he whispered seductively into her ear. Her cheeks reddened even more and she suddenly got a bad case of the giggles. Allen then, of course, placed a soft kiss on her cheek. She turned her head to face him and gave him a kiss of her own on his lips. Merle and Hitomi rolled their eyes at the scene.

Van went and sat down by Hitomi on the lush green grass. Merle knew this was going to turn into a one big love fest so she decided to get up and leave. Van held her close as they both stared up at the clear blue sky. "Hitomi, I don't think I could live without you. I don't want to ever lose you again." he whispered into her ear. "Close your eyes." his voice became very seductive to Hitomi and sent chills down her spine. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small green velvet box. He opened it then told Hitomi to open her eyes. In front of her she saw a golden ring with the biggest diamond she had ever seen. She knew exactly what this mean. "Hitomi, would you do me the honour of being my wife and the honour of being my people's queen?" he asked her and she instantly answered yes and wrapped her arms tightly around him then kissed him deeply and passionately.

Merle got tired of seeing the two couples locking lips. She stood up and left. As she walked down one of the hallways she got a brilliant idea of what she could do to entertain herself. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a bucket which she then had filled with water. She carried it up to on of the guest rooms by the garden. She walked onto the balcony and looked down. Perfect! He's in the right spot! She thought with a mischievous grin. She went and got the bucket on water and placed it carefully on the edge of the railing. She then 'accidentally' hit the bucket with her arm. The bucket fell right on Allen soaking him and getting Yukari a little wet. Allen took the metal bucket off his head and looked above him.

"MERLE!" He yelled. Hitomi and Van parted their lips to see what had just happened and started to laugh.

"Oh I'm so sorry Allen! My arm accidentally hit the bucket!" she apologized trying to control her laughter. He decided not to get himself worked up about it and went inside to change.