Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Mark of a Goddess ❯ Trial by Fire ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter Eleven

Trial by Fire

 

“Van, I have been meaning to ask you something,” Hitomi said the morning after everyone had left the mansion, except herself, Van and Allen.

The sun had just risen, but there was no sunlight cutting through their blinds. Instead, the world outside was grey, cloudy and cold. It was early, so she and Van were not yet obliged to appear in the dining room to have breakfast with Allen. In fact, with only the three of them in the house, Hitomi was starting to feel a little resentful that Allen had insisted on staying. If he had gone to Madrid with the rest of them, then she and Van would have had the mansion to themselves and then, naturally they could have reverted back into their honeymoon habits. The servants had been given Dryden's order that Van was every bit as much master of the house as he was and they were to obey him the same as if Dryden were there, himself. They seemed to take it in stride. Dryden probably made unusual demands often, so they were accustomed to accommodating him.

Actually, Hitomi and Van were still in bed. Well, not exactly.

Van was sitting behind Hitomi, cross-legged trying his dangedest to tie her hair up in a ponytail. She had given him a comb and an elastic band. He had the comb in his teeth as he muttered, “Why did you want me to do this, anyway - it's impossible for me. You could have given me one of those claw things instead of this,” he grunted, grabbing all her hair and pulling it high on her head. “It would have been way easier.”

Hitomi was laughing. Naturally, she asked him because his attempts were so adorable and his complaining was even cuter.

“Your hair's not even long enough for this!” he exclaimed as he let go of her hair and dropped the comb beside her. But even though he was frustrated, as a typical man, he had to find a way to solve the problem. “Do you have another elastic? How about two ponytails instead?”

“Those are called pigtails,” Hitomi informed him, struggling in vain to keep her mirth in check.

Van had moved and had been kneeling behind her, but when he got wind that she was laughing at him, he fell back on his butt and said disapprovingly, “Okay, Your Highness. You wanted me to do this, so why are you laughing?”

She turned around and looked at him. “Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. You're just … so cute, and sweet. I couldn't help it.”

“Well, I think you asked me to do something that is really impossible. There's no way your hair is long enough for a ponytail,” he said, shaking his head.

“Don't be discouraged,” Hitomi said, taking the elastic from him and tying her hair up with it lickety-split. “See? It's possible. Give it another try,” she said, reaching up to take the elastic out.

But Van grabbed her hand and stopped her. “Now, why would you want to do that? I went through all that work, and you're just going to take it out?”

“But you didn't actually get my hair …”

“Didn't I?” he said, smiling broadly.

“Aw, you just wanted to trick me into doing it myself!” she complained loudly.

Van laughed. “Am I that transparent? Look, doing a woman's hair just isn't my forte, all right? I'm better at other things. Flip on your stomach and I'll give you a backrub that'll make my hands worth their weight in gold.”

She turned over, and felt his hands as they started at her neck. She instantly felt the white bandages on all four fingers on his left hand where he had cut himself the day before, and stopped the backrub.

“What's the matter?” he asked, getting off of her.

“It's just … your fingers. You're still hurt, aren't you? You don't have to work that hard for me. I don't want to open your wounds over something as trivial as a backrub. It isn't worth it.”

“I'm fine. It wasn't a serious injury. I did it to myself, remember? I didn't cut myself deeply. They're almost healed, anyway,” he said, showing her his hand. “I redid the bandages last night and look - the blood hasn't even soaked through the cloth yet.”

Hitomi looked at his face and then at his hand. “I think you're starting to get an unhealthy concept of what's hurt and what's not. If you were another person, you might have needed stitches.”

“Nah,” he said, helping her back down onto her stomach. “You're exaggerating, but it is nice to see you worry about me so much. I'll go easy on my left hand, kay?” he paused. “Oh, and what did you want to ask me?” he questioned, changing the subject, so that Hitomi would be distracted enough to let him have his way.

Hitomi noticed the tactic, but decided to let it slide. It was really wonderful to have someone care about her so much. “It's just that you told Allen that Marlene would be coming to the mansion today, so that he could break up with her. You weren't thinking that I would call her, were you?”

“I wasn't thinking anything of the sort,” Van said, suddenly sounding very grim.

“Oh, were you going to call her, then?” Hitomi asked, surprised. Marlene didn't know Van. She'd never met him. Hitomi couldn't imagine how Van would be able to convince Marlene to come … and then there was the problem of transportation. They would have to go and get her.

“No,” Van said clearly.

“Really? What was your plan?” Hitomi asked.

Van hesitated, “Well, I was thinking about the time that you transformed into Marlene …”

“You were going to have Allen break up with ME!” Hitomi interrupted, completely aghast. She flipped onto her back and stared at Van disbelievingly.

He tilted his head and gave her a half-smile. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Why?”

Van was quick to try to convince her. “Well, think about it. That way we could be sure that Allen was serious when he said that he would break up with Marlene. If neither you nor I are there, then how will we be able to tell that he's really doing the right thing? He could strike up a deal with her - like he could say, `Hey Marlene, we just need to stay away from each other until I take care of Dilandau and then we can be together'. Or worse - he could ask her to wait until my back is turned and then he'd go running to her. That wouldn't be following the terms of our agreement, and I want to make sure that he's sincere. He has to agree not to involve others in a potentially dangerous situation.”

What Van said made sense to Hitomi, but she was still uncertain. “Are you sure I'll be able to pass myself off as Marlene? She's a lot different than me. Allen will definitely notice that something is wrong, just like I did when Dilandau came to the mansion.”

Van grabbed Hitomi's hand. “Don't be silly. You were expecting something like that to happen, because you'd already seen it happen twice. This is Allen we're talking about. He won't suspect a thing. As long as you sit there and look like Marlene - that'll be enough to fool him.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yeah, and not only that, he told me that he hasn't talked to Marlene since that day you interrupted them. I'm not sure I believe him, but we'll find out if he told me the truth when you go in to talk to him.”

“How?” Hitomi asked.

“Easy! You'll just ask him why he hasn't tried to contact you. You'll be able to tell from his body language right away if he's called her or seen her, because he'll look confused,” Van said.

“Okay,” Hitomi said, biting her lip. “But what will I wear? Marlene doesn't dress like me at all.”

Van thought for a moment. “What about your school uniform? Would that work?”

“Maybe,” Hitomi said thoughtfully. “If that isn't good enough, I'll just layer the makeup on really thick and that'll probably be good enough. Oh, but Van! What if he tries to kiss me?” Hitomi fluttered - panicking. “He's acted like he really likes her.”

Van touched his chin. “Yeah, that would be a problem - especially since he'll have to go break up with the real Marlene afterwards … if we're impressed with his speech.”

“What do you mean?”

“If he does a good job and breaks up with you properly, then I'll have to go in and tell him that the person he just broke up with was not the real Marlene (although I have no intention of telling him about your ability to turn into other people). That now, since I'm satisfied, he has to go break up with the real girl.” Here Van paused, thinking, “So there's no way you should let him kiss you. But how could you get out of it?”

Hitomi was perspiring. She'd had enough of infidelity and was severely tempted to tell Van she'd have no part in this if there wasn't some sort of guarantee that Allen wouldn't lay a hand on her. After everything that had happened, Allen was about as appealing as a mossy toadstool to her and she despised the idea of being even vaguely unfaithful to Van. To think that this was his idea!

“You're a woman,” Van said. “Don't you know how to sidestep this sort of thing?”

“Obviously not,” Hitomi said miserably, thinking of her past points of indiscretion. She couldn't believe that Van was proposing this.

“Well, then I'll have to tell Allen that I'll be watching from a safe distance and that I'll rough him up if he touches you,” Van volunteered.

Hitomi was loath to disagree with him because of her discomfort, but felt herself bound to admit that she didn't think that would work. It seemed too rash for Van to get so riled up over Marlene. He'd be going too far to protect her.

“I guess so,” Van answered, discouraged. “Isn't there a way we can get through this?”

“I don't like doing this Van. I don't even like flirting with the idea of being disloyal to you. Our relationship is too precious to take for granted. I can't do this!” she said, turning her face away from him and covering her mouth with her hand painfully.

Van put his arm around Hitomi and said, “I can't just give up on him. He's been my best friend for years and if I don't make sure that he's still my friend, then I'll have to turn him out of the house or lock him up. I've thought about this carefully and this is the only way to make sure that he and I are on the same side. We've got to think of a way for this to work, without compromising you. There has to be a way.”

“There is a way,” Hitomi said slowly, thinking hard.

“What?” Van asked.

“I have to be allowed to walk straight out of the room or transform back into myself if something I don't like happens, or seems like it might happen. That's the only way I'll participate,” she said, sounding harsh, and meaning it.

Van nodded strongly. “I'm not willing to sacrifice you, so if that's the way it's got to be, then that's fine with me. Except, if you find yourself having to transform, don't transform into yourself - transform into me. That would be terrifying for Allen, and we'd teach him an excellent lesson. Yeah, let's do it that way,” he decided, swinging his legs off the edge of the bed and heading towards the dressing room.

Hitomi gaped. That was definitely a cruel idea, but Hitomi definitely saw the genius in it. Oh, Van was scary.

 

***

 

After lunch, Van told Allen that Marlene would be coming over. He said he was sending Hitomi to go get her.

“Can't I go along with her?” Allen asked.

Hitomi narrowed her eyes. To Hitomi the request meant that Allen wanted to spend as much time with Marlene as possible - definitely a bad sign. Hitomi was beginning to hope with all her heart that Allen wasn't deceiving Van. If he had been lying, there was no way he wasn't going to walk away without a giant hole in his heart. Van didn't like being lied to one bit.

Van shrugged his shoulders and told Allen that Hitomi and Marlene needed the time together to reconnect. Hitomi hadn't been back at her parents' condo for weeks, so he shouldn't butt in.

Allen took this better than Hitomi expected. So, the score had been one point for Bad Allen and now with that reaction, Good Allen got a point, too. It was even.

Hitomi went upstairs on the pretext of getting her car keys. She stepped into her bedroom and shut the door firmly behind her. She wasn't great at lying, herself. She felt terrible.

When she was able to relax, she went into the dressing room and changed into her school uniform as Van suggested. Above all things, she didn't want to see her sister naked that day, so she got dressed as herself. Once her last button was done up, she closed her eyes and focused on becoming Marlene. The transformation was faster this time than it had been last time … much faster.

Hitomi spent the next hour trying to imitate Marlene, both in cosmetics and personality. When the hour was up, she thought there was no way that Allen would believe that she was Marlene. Even though she looked like her, it was almost laughable.

Eventually, Van came up and knocked on the door. He came in when Hitomi said it was okay.

He looked at her analytically. “Good luck,” he said. “Allen's waiting for you in the downstairs sitting room. Good luck!”

“You already said that,” Hitomi said, trying to sound like Marlene.

Van just smiled and held the door open for her. Hitomi knew he wouldn't dare touch her if she looked like Marlene. That would be like unfaithfulness on his side.

In the downstairs sitting room, Allen was sitting with his elbows on his knees. He looked pale and downcast. Hitomi was surprised he was getting so worked up about Marlene, but she didn't know whether his sadness indicated compliance or rebellion, so neither Good Allen nor Bad Allen got points.

Hitomi walked in and took a position by the mantel. “Why didn't you call me?” she demanded hotly - trying to sound like bratty Marlene, but she wasn't sure if it was working.

Allen was looking at the floor and he didn't look up when Hitomi spoke. Instead, he whispered. “I would have liked to, but I've been busy.”

Hitomi found herself getting irritated with him. That was what all guys said, and it was always a lie. She was irritated with him because Marlene was pissed off … and extremely hurt. The sight of Allen made Hitomi's eyes swell. She knew how much Marlene had missed him and how hurt she was that he hadn't called.

But Hitomi's brain said that that was good that Allen hadn't called her. It meant that Allen hadn't lied to Van about not contacting her. Bad Allen: one - Good Allen: two.

“I told you that I was the leader of the Abaharaki,” Allen said, looking up at her, his expression forlorn. “But I didn't tell you that the Abaharaki is a mere shell of what it used to be. Our numbers have dropped drastically in the past four months, and there hasn't been anything I could do about it. Right now, I'm the leader of a whole three people - three. Pretty impressive, eh?”

Hitomi just stared and looked at him pityingly. It was how Marlene felt, but Hitomi was well able to control her urge to go throw her arms around Allen's neck. Hitomi's personal conviction was enough to keep her standing firmly by the mantle.

“We lost most of our members because of a lie that the Dragon Slayers spread throughout our organization. Never mind what the lie was now - it was a lot of lies. In September, before I met you, I tried to re-recruit those we'd lost. I went and tried to talk to every one of our members, but no one would listen to me. It was a really hard time for me. All but seven of my trusted friends practically spat in my face. In the end, only three of them were able to stay on as members of the Abaharaki.”

“Who were the seven people who didn't reject you?” Hitomi asked, finding Marlene's voice to ask the question.

Allen smirked. “Does that really matter now?”

“It matters to me,” Hitomi said quietly - speaking for herself.

“Well, there's Van, Gaddes, Chid, Eries, Merle, Van's aunt Flo, and your sister Hitomi. Like I said, I was only able to keep three members in the end: Eries, Gaddes and Merle. That was it. The thing that hurts the most in that pack is that Van was my best friend and now … I don't know,” Allen said, his head fell a little lower.

Hitomi wanted to say something to comfort him at this point. The Marlene in her head didn't know what to say and neither did Hitomi.

The moments passed, but eventually Allen found his voice and said, “I wouldn't be mentioning it to you, except that Van found my sister.”

“He did!” Hitomi felt obliged to exclaim, like she didn't already know.

“Yeah, he did,” Allen said, his voice sounding more distant. “I told you that she was missing and that she was the reason why I formed the Abaharaki in the first place. Well, he found her and brought her back, so it makes sense that there isn't a reason for the Abaharaki to exist anymore, but …”

“But what?” Hitomi asked when he didn't proceed.

“That bastard, Dilandau, did something to her …”

Here, Hitomi waited patiently for him to continue. She couldn't urge him on. This would be a difficult thing for him to talk about, so she would have to wait for him to volunteer the rest - no matter how long it took.

Allen sighed, a lovely sigh. Maybe the whole reason why Marlene liked him could be summed up in that motion of his. He looked like a melancholy nobleman. Maybe it was just the setting. Dryden's sitting room was exquisite. It was practically decorated like a palace. But the way Allen leaned back and brushed his hair away from his face had nothing to do with the setting - that magnetism had to be all him. Hitomi could see why he was devastatingly attractive to Marlene. Hitomi thought that Marlene must feel things more intensely - perhaps because of her youth - but at least now Hitomi understood why her sister had been so angry with her for forbidding the relationship. Allen was more than a boyfriend to her, but practically a lifestyle.

Hitomi understood something else in that moment. There was no way that she could have protected her sister from suffering heartache over Allen. All the arrows in Marlene's body pointed to Allen, and for the first time, Hitomi questioned if she and Van were wrong to prohibit their love.

Then Allen looked at her and continued, “The point is that I'm not quite finished fighting the Dragon Slayers, yet. I've thought about it and I'd rather not explain to you what happened to my sister. It's too complicated and I'd rather not burden you with my family troubles. I still have some work to do, and if somehow you were caught up in it or hurt, or possibly treated like my sister by some other beast in the Dragon Slayers because I wasn't careful enough to keep you out of harm's way - I couldn't forgive myself,” Allen said deeply - like he was calling forth his words from the center of his being.

`Five points for that', Hitomi thought as Marlene's hand went to her throat. `No, ten. Ten points.'

“I didn't expect you to take that news so well,” Allen admitted, throwing his arm behind the couch casually. “I know you well, so I was expecting drama.”

She bit her lip. “When will we be able to be together?” she asked quietly, feeling something akin to tears in her eyes.

Here, Allen seemed to gain confidence and he stood up. It was five, four, three, two steps until he made it to Hitomi. What was he going to do?

Hitomi put out her hand to stop him from making it to her. Her palm fell on his chest - it was heaving. She dropped her head down, her other hand was clenched at her own heart. She never thought that this situation would take such an emotional toll on her. Allen was going to break her heart. Hitomi breathed in deeply and focused on her role. She wasn't really Marlene - it was just a trick. This was her ability at its epitome, wasn't it?

“Don't touch me,” she rasped desperately. “Don't touch me if you're not going to be with me!”

Allen immediately backed off. Not slowly, but quickly, he walked to the other end of the room and swung the drapes open wide - letting the afternoon sunshine into the room.

The Marlene in her was crying, but the Hitomi in her was collecting her thoughts and assigning points. He backed off. Twenty points! That made the score Good Allen: 32 - Bad Allen - one.

Hitomi crushed her eyes together, and forced herself to ask her unanswered question again, “When will we be able to be together?”

“I don't know. After this mess with the Dragon Slayers is cleared up, then I'm going abroad. I'll be traveling to Spain, and when I come back, there is no way that I'll be living in this city.”

“Why?” Hitomi asked, looking up at him, wet-lashed.

“I can't live in a city that shares my blood stained past, or a city that houses the memory of the Dragon Slayers. I'm certain that Van will crush them before the end of the year,” Allen said, looking out the window. The expression on his face was pure and almost content. “He may not be my friend anymore, but I understand, since he's in love. Normally, I'd give him up for the woman I love.” Here, he turned and looked at Marlene like they were in a funnel. “But the woman I love isn't available. I'll come back for you when you turn eighteen. I promise you that.”

Then he came towards Hitomi, kissed her hand and walked gallantly out of the room.

When the door shut - Hitomi melted into her own appearance. He really was like a movie star to pull off a scene like that. If he acted that cool when he gave his speech to the real girl, Hitomi knew Marlene would wait for him forever.

But even though Hitomi was herself again, she was shivering and she had goose bumps on her arms. She had just seen something that she shouldn't have seen. That was supposed to be an extremely private moment for Allen and Marlene and she had barged in on it - quite unnecessarily. She felt dirty, like she had done something truly dishonest and totally dishonourable.

And this was the truth of her power? She was supposed to trick people into believing that she was someone else so that she could learn information she wasn't naturally entitled to? It seemed wrong. So, wrong …

When Van came in, he found her sitting next to the sofa - her face and arms resting on the cushion Allen had occupied.

“Are you okay?” he asked, seeing her red eyes.

“I'm fine,” she said, sitting up. She hadn't exactly cried, so she acted like she didn't need to be comforted.

“So, how did it go?” Van asked. The concerned look on his face was serious. Hitomi had wondered if he had somehow found a way to watch what happened, but when she saw his face like that, she knew he hadn't peeped.

Hitomi put a hand in her hair and ruffled it. It was thin and pathetic compared to Marlene's glorious locks. “It went fine,” Hitomi said - feeling down and disheartened. “Allen passed with flying colours. He's a good guy and he's worthy of your friendship. I'm just not so sure that we're worthy of his. What a dirty trick we've pulled.”

“So, you got to the end of his rejection without having to transform?” Van asked.

Hitomi nodded.

“Okay. I'll go tell him he passed my test,” Van said, getting up. “Hey, Hitomi. Are you all right?”

She glared at him. She couldn't help it, even though she hadn't put forth any serious opposition to his plan. She was every bit as much to blame as him, but that didn't stop her from feeling bad.

Hitomi slapped her head with both her hands and got up off the floor. When she started to feel bad everything always boomeranged back at her. Everything that was wrong. Everything Dryden had told her and everything she still hadn't shared with Van was weighing down on her as well as the wrong they had just done Allen. She even began feeling bad about Millerna again. That was the extent of the snowball that was building up in her heart.

`Well, if Van wasn't so wrapped up in his revenge,' she thought angrily, as she stalked out of the room. `Then maybe I could find the time to tell him what's really wrong with me.'

She didn't realize that she left Van standing in the middle of the room with a wounded expression on his face.