Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Mark of a Goddess ❯ The West Wing ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three

The West Wing

 

Van figured that it took exactly two weeks for his body to regenerate, so when the two weeks had passed since Folken's wings had broken through his back, Van said he was ready for Dryden's training.

 

The west wing of Dryden's mansion was not open to the servants. Besides Dryden and his mother, only the head butler had access to that part of the building. The head butler had not come with Dryden and lived mostly at the Fassa castle in Madrid, but once a year he made the trip out to Van and Hitomi's corner of the world and aired Master Fassa's books, and gave the training gym a thorough cleaning, making sure that everything was properly preserved and kept relatively dust free. The entrance to the west wing was at the end of the gallery. There were two large doors that led into the training hall, a library, and an infirmary.

 

Dryden entered in the codes and welcomed Van, Hitomi, Naria, and Eriya into that part of the house. Dryden had said there was a library, but Hitomi was shocked when she saw what it was - there were so few books - only one complete cabinet. But the room was dressed up as nicely as possible with comfortable chairs. Hitomi was definitely confused as she stepped into the room, and then her jaw literally dropped. There were boxes and boxes of unpacked books.

 

She gaped at them while Dryden explained, “Two years ago I had all of my father's books brought to my villa, and I brought them back with me when I came to meet you and Van, but as you can see, I still haven't unpacked them.”

 

“What's the infirmary for?” Naria asked skeptically as she looked into a room that looked exactly like a nurse's office in a high school

 

“In case you happen to hurt yourself in the training gym,” Van answered for Dryden. “If you're inexperienced, you can hurt yourself. This way you can treat yourself without having to see a doctor.”

 

“Does it really get that dangerous?” Naria asked.

 

“Of course,” Van said before he went ahead and pushed the doors open to reveal the training gym.

 

Hitomi followed him. The training gym was a large room, like a basketball court, with no windows. The floor was made with grey stone tiles and the walls appeared to be made of thick cement. There was a circular fountain in one corner with two tiers that Dryden turned on when he came in. In the ceiling there were a couple skylights, but other than that, it was empty. Hitomi guessed that although this room was bare, the arrangement was practical. This way the walls, floor and ceiling could be frozen, set on fire, soaked, and no one outside the building was any the wiser.

 

“Shut the doors,” Dryden told Naria and Eriya who were staggering behind him. “Okay, let's get started. Van gets to go first since he obviously has a lot more material than anyone else to cover. Plus, you girls might get a good idea how to start by watching him. Kay, Van, call up some fire.”

 

Van gave Dryden a look of absolute loathing before he took a deep breath and extended his left hand. When he snapped his fingers a spark ignited and he held a yellow flame in his hand. It floated far enough above him that it didn't hurt him, but it cracked and danced like a little fiery demon.

 

“Cool,” Eriya said, coming up and putting her hands close to it to see if it was really hot. “I hope fire is one of my elements.”

 

“Care to do a wind demonstration, Van?” Dryden persisted.

 

“I'd rather not,” Van said quickly, snuffing out the fire.

 

Hitomi wondered at his answer and then she remembered that it had been air that he had been using when his wings grew. He probably didn't want to risk those wings coming out again. He was worried that if he used air then they might. After all, air was one of Folken's elements.

 

“Fair enough,” Dryden said. “Then how about you start to learn ice? Hitomi can show you how to use that, I'm sure. Is that okay with you, Hitomi?”

 

“Yup,” Hitomi answered.

 

“Naria, Eriya, you'll pay attention, right?” Dryden asked, looking at the twins like he didn't trust them to keep their minds on training.

 

“I know it's hard to envision,” Hitomi said, taking Van by the shoulders and ignoring everyone else in the room. “But try to think of dance music. You've seen me do this hundreds of times. To be able to do it, you just need to believe that it's possible.”

 

“Dancing isn't going to work,” Van said, looking at the other people in the room. “What about running? That would get my heart beating fast and then I could focus.”

 

“Running? Well, there's lots of room in here. Here, chase me,” Hitomi said, bending down to tighten the laces on her runners. She looked at Van. It wasn't intentional, but they looked so much alike. He was wearing a black shirt with a red cross on the back with shorts and she was wearing a green shirt with black roses in a line across the breast. His black track runners were cooler than hers, but he only bought them a couple days before. She didn't know why, but at that second she felt like they were a team. When she got up, she poked him in the chest with her index finger. “You're it,” she said playfully before making a break for it down the gym.

 

Van took off after her.

 

“Excuse me, Dryden!” Eriya called. “Do we really have to watch this?”

 

Dryden leaned against the wall and put his hands behind his head. “Even though it looks ridiculous, they really know what they're doing. They just need to get their hearts beating quickly and they'll be able to call forth ice. Lots of times, elements can't be summoned by users unless they're in a desperate situation - like adrenaline. So, either start running around with them to try to discover if you have ice too, or keep quiet and watch.”

 

Van had caught Hitomi twice, and she was challenging him to give it a try. She called up her ice mittens and was even able to call up an ice crystal the length of a dagger.

 

“Holy crap!” Van shouted when he saw it. “You have gotten so much better! My imagination didn't even take me there. You can make something like that?”

 

“Better try to do it, too,” she said, chucking it at him.

 

He dodged and closed his eyes.

 

“Think cold thoughts,” Hitomi said as she conjured another crystal and was impressed that it was bigger this time.

 

Van put his right hand in the air and mouthed something. He didn't get an ice crystal but he got something closer to what Hitomi got the first time - sparkling snow with the sharpest edges. He focused it towards Hitomi and she had to jump to miss being hit by the stream of snowflakes. She ended up rolling and was on the floor laughing her head off when Van finally opened his eyes.

 

“Van! Baby, you're awesome!” she called to him, letting her fingers melt. “I knew you could do it.

 

He turned to look at her. “It was good?”

 

She banged both hands on the floor and said, “Heck yes!”

 

“Are you okay?” he asked rushing to her and helping her up.

 

“See, you two?” Dryden said to Naria and Eriya, “I told you they were going about it the right way.”

“I don't think ice is one of my abilities,” Naria said. “I was researching opals and they definitely have fire, so I want to try fire. There isn't any point to my trying something like that.”

 

“How about it, Van? Want to teach Naria how to use a little fire?” Dryden asked, taking out a book and looking at it with more interest than Naria.

 

Van was hugging Hitomi, but he turned to Dryden and said, “Sure, but if she doesn't want to get sweaty, she won't like my training at all.”

 

“Why?” Naria asked.

 

“Because,” Van said mockingly. “I'm going to make you mad.”

 

Naria was not dressed like Van and Hitomi. Instead she was wearing white capris and a white shirt with a wide neck. Her blue bra straps were showing and she was wearing sandals.

 

“That's all it takes?” she said snottily. “This is absurd.”

 

“I want to see if I have fire,” Eriya said, approaching Van and looking more prepared for whatever teaching he had in mind. Eriya wasn't dressed much better, but she was wearing a pair of black boots that were more suitable for what Van had in mind. “So, let's get on with it.”

 

“That's the spirit,” Dryden yelled, not looking up from his book.

 

Van let go of Hitomi and approached Eriya. “Have you ever been in a catfight before?” he asked her seriously.

 

“Maybe one or two,” she admitted.

 

“Then please don't scratch me. When you try to hit me, keep your fist clenched - no nails.”

 

“When I try to hit you?” she asked crossly.

 

“Yeah, that's how I discovered my abilities - in a fight. It's the only way I know how to teach, so you're going to have to fight me.”

 

“You'd hit a girl?” Eriya asked, placing her feet apart and looking like she was mildly excited.

 

“I'd hit a girl if she hit me first, so I'll let you have the first hit, but I won't make it easy for you,” Van said, positive and cocky.

 

“Sounds like fun,” she said, getting into fighting stance.

 

“Whenever you're ready,” Van challenged.

 

He jumped clear of her for the first blow. With swiftness and ease he missed her second, third and fourth strikes. Hitomi had no idea that Van was so agile or that he was so accustomed to fist fights. Eriya wasn't slow, and she seemed to have excellent reflexes, but he dodged everything she threw at him like it was a joke.

 

“Is that all you've got?” he said, taunting her. He hadn't even raised his fists to her, but was simply moving out of her way.

 

Eriya wouldn't be defeated, though, and she renewed her efforts. It also looked like a considerable amount of her concentration was working to keep control of her temper, and Van was deliberately baiting her.

 

“Eriya, you need to get angry!” Hitomi yelled at her. “Let him make you mad!”

 

“I don't need to hear that from you,” Eriya snarled.

 

“Listen to Hitomi,” Van said smoothly, looking conceited.

 

It was a low blow, but at that exact second Eriya kicked Van in the stomach. He didn't double over. He caught her leg before the kick truly did any damage and then he gritted his teeth and said to Eriya, “Beating me isn't the point. The point is getting you angry, so stop trying to look cool and hit me in the face with your fist.”

 

“Well, quit saying useless crap,” Eriya said, bouncing on one leg because Van was still holding her other leg in the air.

 

“I'm trying to piss you off, but if you'd rather I attacked you outright … that's another way to get riled up,” Van offered.

 

“Yeah, I'd rather you faced me honestly rather than bouncing around the room like a friggin' kangaroo. At least then I'd feel like I was doing something instead of you just making fun of me.”

 

“Whatever you want,” he said letting go of her leg and backing up a little. “But seriously, if you scratch me, I won't hold back.”

 

“Can I kick?” she asked.

 

“If you want to, but I've never been able to summon fire with my feet, which is why I suggest you focus your attacks in your hands, but if you'd like - you may kick. It might give you an edge,” Van said.

 

Eriya seemed to get a lot more confident after this. Van distinctly changed styles and blocked her attacks with his forearms and wrists. Eriya even seemed to be enjoying herself, but Van exhausted her. She wasn't used to this, so she burned out quicker than Van. She threw herself against a wall and asked for a time out. “I need a break,” she said, before she was even able to land one punch.

 

“Breath harder,” Van ordered.

 

Oddly enough, Eriya obeyed as she let her head fall back against the cement wall. A long spindle of smoke came from her mouth and the air around her vibrated with heat waves.

 

Van clapped his hands and congratulated her, “Good work, Eriya!”

 

“What?” she asked, wiping her damp forehead and opening her eyes. She hadn't seen the smoke.

 

“You did it! Breathe out again and you'll see, except breathe harder this time,” Van said, cheering her on.

 

She did it and when she saw the smoke, she started laughing triumphantly. She clapped Van on the back and cried excitedly, “And to think I thought you were full of crap, but wow, it really worked. And one of my elements is fire. Yeah!”

 

“You might only have the one,” Dryden said, peeking out from behind his book.

 

She glared at him. “You just can't accept the chance that Naria and I could be more powerful than you. Well, we'll find out, won't we?” She snapped her head towards Van and asked, “What else can you teach us? He said you could use air. Can you help us see if we have that?”

 

“Wait,” Naria said suddenly. “It's my turn to fight him, isn't it?”

 

Hitomi was shocked at this. “She got into the mood quickly,” Hitomi thought savagely.

 

Van went over to the fountain and dunked his head in the water. When he brought his head out, he shook his head like he was a puppy. Then he made his way back over to the girls. “Okay, I'll fight Naria next. We're taking turns, aren't we?”

 

Eriya agreed and made room for her sister.

 

Naria had kicked off her sandals and cracked her knuckles.

 

“You don't normally do this sort of thing, do you?” Van asked, observing Naria prepare herself.

 

“No, but don't underestimate me. I just can't scratch, right?”

“Yeah, but focus on your breathing and try to make it as intense as possible, and if you could get angry enough to really try to hurt me, that would be good too.”

 

“I notice you didn't hit Eriya once. You'd better not go so easy on me. Remember that my father was The Fool. I've been hit lots of times.”

 

Hitomi stared. She didn't know that Naria and Eriya's father was The Fool. Apparently, Van didn't know either because Naria, little prissy Naria, planted a punch squarely on his jaw. Van squinted as he recovered from the punch. Naria was nursing her hand as well.

 

“Damn that hurt,” she said, backing up.

 

“Let's go,” Van said, looking more serious than when he fought Eriya. Yet, Hitomi noticed that he was still holding back. Van said that he learned of his powers when he was in a fistfight with some kids at school. How often had he fought? He was experienced. But he blocked her attacks when she made them instead of dodging. It wasn't until there was a sickeningly obvious opening that he hit her. Now it was her turn to make fun of him.

 

“You call that an attack? I've had black eyes before,” Naria growled.

 

“Is that true?” Hitomi asked Eriya, who was now sitting cross-legged beside her.

 

Eriya didn't answer, and Hitomi knew that it was true. No wonder neither of them cared that their father was dead if he abused them. Hitomi looked over at Dryden. He was watching the fight with interest.

 

Naria hit Van across the cheek again, and Hitomi realized that there was no way she was fighting Van. She was fighting her father. That was her tactic to get mad enough to hurt him.

 

Suddenly, Van left himself wide open and challenged her “Hit me!”

 

Naria hesitated, but only for a moment before she swung at Van. It was the sort of knockout punch that someone delivers at the end of a boxing match. Hitomi thought for a split second that Van was going to let her hit him like that, but he jumped out of the way at the last second and grabbed her arm in a lock.

 

“You've done it, Naria!” he shouted at her. “Feel your fist with the palm of your other hand. You've called forth fire. See?”

 

Naria was breathing hard, but she did what Van told her to do. Her eyes looked around wildly as she felt the heat with her free hand. “But that's so pathetic,” she said, her eyes now downcast and pitiful.

 

“It'll get stronger. This is how I started. It'll get stronger. I promise,” Van said, his hair still dripping wet and creating dark spots on his black T-shirt.

 

“But that was the first time you called up ice, wasn't it? And you were able to do that much?” Naria muttered, sounding hopeless.

 

“I've nearly mastered two elements. It's not the same for me, so don't feel bad. I got the same results as you when I first did it; now I'm more experienced. Go sit down and relax for a minute. After this, it should come to you much easier. Just go and remember what you felt like at that moment right before I grabbed your arm. If you can memorize that moment, then things should be much easier for you later on, like Hitomi and her dance music. Go sit down.” As Van said all this, he didn't sound comforting or reassuring, even though those were his words. Instead, he sounded like an uninterested third party. Next he focused on Hitomi. “Come here, you little doppelganger,” he said.

 

“Doppelganger?” Eriya asked Dryden once Naria had plopped down next to them.

 

“It's believed that The Goddess of the Moon can turn into any person she has ever seen,” Dryden said. “Van just wants to experiment.”

 

Hitomi stood up beside Van and yelled at Dryden, “Do you have any bright ideas as to how I should go about this?”

 

“No,” Dryden bellowed back mockingly. Then he suddenly looked more thoughtful and he said, “But Akira might. Tell you what; I'll go see if I have a copy of her logbook. I'll bet The Historian provided me with a copy. I'll be right back,” he said, heading towards the doors.

 

“Wait! I'll come with you,” Eriya offered.

 

“No thanks,” Dryden said, declining charmingly. “You stay and watch them try to figure out a way to make it work.”

 

“Who's Akira?” Naria asked, looking less dazed. The world seemed to have come back into focus for her now that a few moments had passed.

 

“The Changeling,” Dryden supplied before he left the room. “Hitomi's aunt.”

 

“Who should I change into?” Hitomi asked Van.

 

“I don't know. It can be anyone,” Van said.

 

“Start with a chick,” Naria supplied noisily.

 

“Yeah,” Hitomi agreed. “How about Celena?”

 

“Okay. Give it a try,” Van encouraged.

 

Hitomi lay down on the floor on her back and tried her best to picture Celena in her head. Celena had blue eyes. Hitomi had green eyes. Her eyes had to become blue like Celena's. Celena's hair was blonder than Hitomi's. Celena was taller, more slender, her skin paler. Hitomi remembered all of this and tried to bring it into focus. She was trying to open her mind up to the idea of looking like her physically. What sort of clothes did she wear? What did her voice sound like? Hitomi was hitting a barrier in her mind. She felt like she couldn't answer all these questions. She didn't know Celena well enough, but she felt like she should have accomplished something. “How am I doing?” she asked Van.

 

“Your hair's blonder!” Naria shouted, laughing.

 

Hitomi didn't believe Naria. She opened one eye and looked at Van, “Is that true?”

 

He looked like he didn't know how to answer, “Maybe. I'm not sure.”

 

“I've got to think of someone else. I don't know Celena well enough,” Hitomi said, bringing herself into sitting position, but her body felt stiff and sore. “I don't feel good,” she said. She thought she was going to throw up. “Oh Van, I feel terrible.” Her mind was spinning and she was suddenly so dizzy that she couldn't keep herself upright. She fell on the tile floor.

 

Van picked her up quickly and carried her to the infirmary. He propped her up in front of the sink in case she really did throw up.

 

“Focus on being yourself,” Van ordered. “I don't know what else to tell you. Focus!”

 

Hitomi had to undo it exactly the way she had started it. She compared their eyes, then their hair colours, then their bodies and their skin tones. Only when she went through all of these things and reminded herself - which of these decisions were hers - did the nausea in her stomach go away. When it was gone, she slumped her body on the floor. Van got her a drink of water and she drank it reluctantly.

 

“Why should I feel sick?” she asked him.

 

“I'm not sure. Maybe it's a consequence of not being able to finish the transformation. Though I think Naria was right; your hair was blonder, because when you opened your eyes just now when you had your head bent over the sink, your eyes were definitely blue. We'll have to try again some time, but not now. You look tired.”

 

“I am tired.”

 

“I can't believe that Dryden skulked off like that when it came time to train those two. What does he think he's pulling, leaving it all for me to do?”

 

“You don't like the responsibility?”

 

“No, it's not that,” Van said. “I just have this sick feeling that my teaching them to use fire is going to be a bad idea - that one day I'm going to have to fight them. Both of them, and that it'll be nowhere near as easy as it was today. You're supposed to have prophetic visions. Do you have a premonition about them?”

 

Hitomi shook her head.

 

“Well, how are you feeling now? Do you think you can go back?”

 

“Yeah, just so long as I don't have to do anything for a little while,” Hitomi said.

 

“Okay, I'll try a new element, then,” Van said, letting her lean on him as they went back into the training gym. He sat Hitomi next to the wall and went up to Naria and Eriya. “Were there any other elements you specifically wanted to try today?”

 

“Lightning,” both twins said at the same time.

 

Van looked at them like they were aliens. He obviously had no idea how to even begin teaching them that. He had never used it before. “I'll go get Dryden,” he said.

 

Hitomi sat by the wall and felt every part of her body. Trying to turn into Celena had been such a strange experience and it was taking her a second to get used to what had happened. It almost worked. Was it just that she didn't know Celena well enough to conjure up her appearance, or was there some other reason?

 

When Van and Dryden came back into the training gym, Dryden was carrying a dusty box. “You guys sure are hardcore. I was sure you'd want a break by now. Well, lightning.” He sat down on the floor and opened the box he was carrying. There were four silver revolvers set in black velvet. Dryden opened the barrel on each one to make sure that they weren't loaded before he gave one to Eriya, Naria, and Van. “Lightning is about speed and the nervous system. So, I would recommend practicing drawing the gun out of the front or back of your pants just to see how fast you can get, then maybe do some practice show downs. I'll go see if I can find the holsters. I know they're somewhere in there,” he said getting up and heading out again.

 

Hitomi bet that Dryden knew exactly where they were and he was just stalling so that he wouldn't have to spend time with Naria and Eriya.

 

“Wait, Dryden!” Hitomi called after him. “Your element is water, isn't it? Do you think you could show me how to use it? I haven't gotten to learn anything new today.”

Dryden went to Hitomi immediately and helped her up. “Of course,” he said gallantly. “Come over to the water fountain and we'll get started.”

 

“Opals have less than two percent of water in them. I doubt I have water,” Naria said, swinging her white hair over her shoulder. It was clear that she knew she was being ignored when Hitomi was shown such preference.

 

Eriya came and sat by them and listened while Naria practiced her quick draw. Van came and sat next to Hitomi by the fountain while Dryden explained a little about water as an element.

 

“Water is equated with wisdom. So, I suggest we start with some light meditation. Hitomi, would you like me to turn the fountain off, so you can concentrate without distraction?”

 

“No thanks,” Hitomi said, getting up and kicking off her shoes. From her experience learning ice, she thought that the only way to go about learning something new was to simply jump into the deep end. “Don't monks stand under waterfalls to gain enlightenment? Besides, I want to be able to think on my feet. I don't want to `require' quiet when I'm in a tight pinch.” She pulled her socks off too and then her shirt and shorts. While wearing just her bra and panties she put her toe in the water of the fountain.

 

“It's going to be cold,” Dryden said.

 

He was right. It was really cold.

 

“You're brave to get that naked when you're going to be wet,” Eriya commented, looking at Dryden coyly. “Hitomi, aren't you worried about Dryden's oath where he swore off women? Seeing you like that might cause him to break it.”

 

“Yeah right,” Hitomi said sarcastically. “This has nothing to do with that. Dryden's not even that perverted. Besides, I plan to sit under that tier of water; he won't even be able to see me properly with the water spilling over my head. I'm going to be freezing cold while I learn something, okay? No pain, no gain.”

 

“Are you really going to do this, Hitomi?” Van asked. “That water is really cold.”

 

“I don't care,” she said stubbornly as she plunked her flat foot against the turquoise floor of the fountain. Freak! It was freaking cold. But she steadied her nerves and sat down. When the water hit her panties, she squirmed. This was definitely a radical move, but she reminded herself that one of her elements was ice and that it shouldn't bother her as much as someone else. She crossed her legs and moved to back up so that the spill of water from the next highest tier would hit her head. When she turned around she saw that Van was stripping as well.

 

“He couldn't be outdone by Hitomi,” Dryden observed, as Van dropped his pants, and pulled off his socks.

 

Eriya politely turned her head away, and Hitomi suspected she was concealing a blush. “Are you sure you don't have a brother?” she asked Van again.

 

Van didn't answer her but lowered himself into the water beside Hitomi. He didn't say one more word to complain about how cold the water was. He had soaked his head before, so he really knew what he was getting into.

 

Hitomi turned to Dryden and asked, “Is there any particular thought you've focused on when you've been able to summon water?”

 

“My goals,” Dryden answered. “So, think of your goal and go for it!”

 

Van backed up into the mini waterfall before Hitomi and the water splashed around him. Hitomi knew what Van's goal was … he wanted to kill Folken. What was her goal? She hung back and thought. She couldn't go through with this until she knew what her goal was. Did she want to defeat the Zaibach Group? Did she want to take down the Dragon Slayers? Did she want to finish high school and make up with her family? Yeah, she wanted to do all those things, but she wasn't exactly consumed by those feelings. She didn't want people to be hurt. She didn't want Van to be hurt and if he got his way and killed his brother, she knew that would be the key to his undoing. There was no way he would get the revenge and the satisfaction he was looking for. Not only that, but Hitomi was positive that the remorse that would follow would be too much for him to bear. He was delicate at his core no matter how rough he seemed on the outside. She'd only seen a glimpse of that Van once or twice, but she knew it was there. He'd never forgive himself if he actually took his brother's life, and that gentle part of him would die forever. That would be her goal - she'd protect Van! She'd protect him from whatever threatened him, even if it was himself.

 

Hitomi let her body fall back, the water hit her and damn … it was cold.