Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Mystic Wings ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Mystic Wings

 

Prologue

The Crime

 

Van stood on the pavement outside the apartment complex where Hitomi's parents lived. His leg was so itchy under his bandages and walking cast he was ready to chew his own leg off, but that wasn't the only thing inducing his irritability. He was about to do something illegal, and his leg was hurt. So, if he had to make a sudden disappearance, he was going to be totally screwed. He clenched his teeth and considered how desperate he was to accomplish his task.

 

“Pretty desperate,” he thought to himself before he decided that if it got bad, he'd have to lie. He'd have to lie … a lot. Not that he was uncomfortable telling lies, but he wasn't really prepared with a plausible story. He'd have to think on his feet, and now was really his last chance. He couldn't go away to prepare more, and nor could he ask a more healthy person to do this. He had considered asking Hitomi outright if she'd do it, but he couldn't do that. If she walked into her parent's apartment they'd go berserk with happiness just to see her, and then his plan would be shot. Even if they weren't home, as now, he didn't think he would be able to convince her to just get the goods and take off. She'd be too excited to be home, wouldn't she?

 

This was his last chance.

 

After Van met with the Abaharaki one of his less noisy followers, a boy named Jak, had come up to him and told him some information he thought was pressing. He said that Hitomi's parents were moving in two weeks, and he hadn't been able to find out where to.

 

Van was startled, but he understood why her parents might want to clear out. Well, they could, but Van couldn't let them go without getting something from them - Hitomi's birth certificate. She'd be eighteen in less than a week now, and he needed proof of it.

 

So he straightened his baseball cap and put on his yellow sunglasses and headed for the front doors, at the exact same time as a pretty woman who seemed to be in her early thirties. There wasn't a lot of security, only the regular buzz numbers, but he let her see him limping and he was carrying a bag of groceries in his arms. She unlocked the door with her keys and held the door open wide for Van. He smiled at her and thanked her earnestly. After all, he had waited for almost two hours for someone who lived in her building. He was honestly happy to see her; it had been getting very hot out in the summer heat.

 

Then he made his way up to Hitomi's parents' apartment. He wasn't good at picking locks, as it was not exactly his forte, but he didn't plan on picking it. He had no intention of doing this the slow proper way. He was in too big of a hurry. Besides, it had been the main front doors that had presented a challenge, and now he was past that.

 

He put the groceries on the floor and extended his hand to the wooden door, being totally prepared to zap it to oblivion, when suddenly, the door opened.

 

Van's eyes opened wide. He was totally unprepared to come face to face with Hitomi's father. He had his keys in hand and was obviously on his way out. He must have come back home while Van was waiting at the front door. Oh crap!

 

“I think you've got the wrong apartment Sonny,” her dad said stepping out into the hallway and locking the door behind him.

 

Van moved out of the way for him, and pulled his baseball cap further down on his face.

 

Then Hitomi's father turned on him and abruptly asked, “You're not one of Marlene's friends, are you?”

 

“I think I got off on the wrong floor,” Van said, picking up his groceries and limping away with his head down. He knew he looked totally unsuspicious, because he looked pathetic. The bag of groceries helped with that.

 

Van waited by the elevator with Mr. Kanzaki and they got on the lift together. Van pressed the button for the second floor and Hitomi's father had chose the basement/parking lot level. It didn't matter which one.

 

The doors closed and Van looked at Mr. Kanzaki's shoes. He hated himself more by the minute. To think that he was about to break into their apartment, but it couldn't be helped, so he just focused on the brown leather of his shoes. He wondered for the millionth time why Hitomi couldn't have been kidnapped with her birth certificate on her.

 

Finally the elevator opened and Van stepped out. The lift had to go down to the basement before he could try their door again, so he waited.

 

It felt like forever before he could get up to try their door again, but he finally got there and sat the bag of groceries beside the door again. He put his hand out and blew a hole about ten centimeters across clean through the dwood. He didn't have time to wait for it to cool, so he wrapped his arm in the plaid shirt he had tied around his waist (intended for this very purpose) and reached in to unlock the dead-bolt. It came open easily, and no security system was activated.

 

There wasn't much smoke, but he knew he had to hurry; someone might come down the hallway, or the fire alarm might go off. He made his way into Hitomi's room as quickly as possible, which wasn't fast. He was cursing himself up and down that he was trying to do this in his current condition. He was such an idiot.

 

They weren't due to leave for another few days (the two weeks Jak mentioned were almost gone), so Van was hoping that Hitomi's room wasn't packed into boxes yet. He flung the door open and saw that someone had started packing her up, but hadn't finished yet. Van scanned the room and saw that Hitomi's purse was still lying on the top of her dresser. He unzipped it and found her documents and cards. Luckily, her birth certificate was there. It was wallet sized and in a little white cardholder. He flipped through her other documents, and decided to take her drivers license as well. When he was sure he'd gotten everything important he turned to leave, happy that it had been easy.

 

“Hello?” Van suddenly heard someone yell from the front door.

 

Son of a … Hitomi's father had come back, seen the burning door, and knew there was a break in. Van was clenching his teeth and quickly stuffed his prize into the pocket of his jeans. What was he going to do? Hitomi's parents lived on the third floor. He couldn't make it out the window. On a normal day, he would have climbed out the window, but with his leg? He was as good as caught!

 

Well, he'd planned to lie, so he might as well get ready to. Van looked around the room frantically for something that looked sentimental and looked like it might be something important to her. Something she wouldn't be able to live without, but what? Her father's footfalls were coming towards the bedroom.

 

Van quickly snatched up a framed picture of Hitomi and Millerna together and put it behind his back in an effort to hide it.

 

“I know you're in here!” her father's voice boomed again.

 

Van felt a trickle of sweat creep down the back of his neck, and prepared himself. He was going to lie his head off, or die trying, to one of the few people a young man should never lie to - his girlfriend's father.

 

The door burst open, and Van stood there looking stupid as Mr. Kanzaki burst into the room holding a golf club poised in one hand and a cordless phone in the other.

 

Van flinched.

 

Mr. Kanzaki immediately recognized Van and asked him in a steady voice. “Give me one reason why I shouldn't call the police and have you arrested.”

 

“… I know where Hitomi is,” Van said, pretending to hesitate. “… Or I will know where she is.”

 

“What do you mean?” Mr. Kanzaki asked, lowering the golf club.

 

“It's a long story,” Van said, hobbling over to the door and moving to walk right by Hitomi's father.

 

“Wait, what do you have?” he asked, grabbing Van's arm.

 

Van reluctantly showed him the picture of Hitomi and Millerna together.

 

“That's what you broke in here to get. Why?” Hitomi's father asked, looking around him nervously and then at Van. “Who are you to Hitomi?”

 

Well, if there was one thing he shouldn't lie about, it was his feelings for Hitomi. Her father wouldn't believe him benevolent if he didn't. So, even though he planned to make up a story about how Hitomi wanted the photo, he ended up going with a different story. “I'm in love with her,” he said quietly. “And she was kidnapped…” Van said desperately, realizing that her father knew perfectly well that she was kidnapped. He had seen them do it.

 

“Tell me what you know,” Mr. Kanzaki pressed, his face becoming red with heat. He stood squarely in Van's path. Van couldn't go anywhere.

 

“Can I tell you the whole story?” Van asked.

 

“You'd better,” he said, giving Van an `I'm gonna kill you if you don't spill your guts this instant' look.

 

Van quickly went into a speech he hoped didn't sound too planned. He wasn't as good at this as Allen. Allen could B.S. his way through anything. “Hitomi and I started dating before everything happened with Millerna and before she was kidnapped. I'm the reason she was kidnapped,” Van said despondently.

 

“Go on,” Mr. Kanzaki urged.

 

“My brother got into some trouble with these drug dealers, and when he couldn't pay them, of course they wanted a piece of him to teach him that he couldn't screw around with their kind. I wouldn't let them have him of course, so their grudge transferred from my brother to me. They couldn't get at me, so they decided to take what they could - my girlfriend - Hitomi. So, they came and took her.”

 

“Didn't you go after her?”

 

“Yeah, I did,” Van said. “But it wasn't any use. I fell chasing one of them and dislocated by knee,” Van lied. He hoped Mr. Kanzaki didn't ask him to lift his pant leg. He was wearing the right cast for a dislocated knee (at least he thought he was), but he was shot in the meaty part of his calf. Van hoped frantically that he wouldn't ask him.

 

“Why didn't you call the police?” Mr. Kanzaki asked, looking like the blood vessel in his forehead was about to burst.

 

Van had a rough time turning his attention away from the vessel. It looked like it would pop, but Van managed to control himself and continue. “I can't call the police. If I call the police my brother is a dead man. But I'm getting Hitomi back in five weeks,” Van said - lying again.

 

“Why in five weeks?”

 

“They said that I could have her back in five weeks,” Van said trying to put off saying what he knew her father would be loath to hear. “They said she's safe until then and I have to believe them, because there's nothing else I can do.”

 

“Why in five weeks?” he repeated, as Van knew he would.

 

“… That's when my cast is being down-graded.”

 

“And what's special about that?”

 

“… It's just …” Van said, stalling for as long as he could.

 

“What!” Hitomi's father demanded, grabbing onto both of Van's arms and squeezing them.

 

“They're going to break both my knees,” Van admitted in a choked yelp - still lying. “If I let them break my knees, they'll let her go! And they'll give my brother more time to pay his debt.”

 

“That's the STUPIDEST thing I've ever heard!” he choked. “They probably won't give her to you anyway, even if you allow that. Don't be a fool.”

 

“I'm not being a fool. I shouldn't have told you. But I want you to come pick her up,” Van said, trying his best to look his part.

 

“I'm calling the police. You're going to tell them what you just told me.” Without any delay, he started dialing. No doubt the man had the police phone line programmed in his quick dials on that phone.

 

Van snatched it out of his hand and turned it off. “Didn't you hear me? I said that my brother will be dead if we call the police. We can't do that. You'll just have to wait for me to settle this. Like I said, you can pick her up from an address in the country as soon as we get her back.”

 

“What address?”

 

“I'll phone you with the address the night before I go to get her. You'd better not involve the bloody cops, or we'll never get her back and my brother will die, and possibly me too. I can handle broken bones, but if you do one thing to compromise my chances of getting Hitomi back, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!” Van shouted, feeling that he was playing his part well. Besides, he had been planning to do this anyway. Now that he had met her father in person, he might as well get it out of the way. He would arrange for her father to come pick her up the day he was to go to The Voltage Room. That was his plan.

 

“You can't be a very good person,” he said slowly, looking at Van carefully, and calming down visibly. “Breaking into people's homes.”

 

“I just wanted a picture of Hitomi, and I heard you were moving,” Van said slowly.

 

“How old are you Boy?”

 

“Nineteen,” Van lied again.

 

“And you're already into trouble up to your neck?”

 

“Yes,” Van admitted meekly. At least that part was true. He was always into trouble up to his neck.

 

“You can't be a very good boy for my daughter,” he went on. “But if you can get Hitomi back, I'll be eternally grateful.”

 

“I'll get her back,” Van said reassuringly, “Even if they break every bone in my body.”

 

Both of them were welling up with emotion, and Mr. Kanzaki's artery was starting to look big again. Van had to get out of there. “Can I pay you for the door?” he asked, changing the subject.

 

“Yeah,” her dad said.

 

“Tell me how much it cost when I call with the address then.”

 

“I'll do that,” he said, nodding.

 

Van couldn't believe it when he made it back out to the street. Why had her father bought that story? It wasn't farfetched, as least Van didn't think it was farfetched because of all this dealings with members of the Abaharaki. Lots of them had stories like that, but it might seem extraordinary to an outsider. Van walked down the block to where Eries was parked thinking about it.

 

There was no way Hitomi's father wasn't going to call the police as soon as Van was gone, but Van didn't care. He'd make sure his aunt knew what to do when Mr. Kanzaki came to pick Hitomi up.

 

Besides, even though his plan wasn't perfect, he had every intention of going through with it. He felt like he had no choice, and if things were going to be this way then there was only one thing he could do with these weeks before he met with Folken.

 

“Did you get what you were looking for?” Eries asked, as he clamored into the passenger side seat.

 

“Yup,” he said, straightening his leg to make himself as comfortable as possible.

 

“Have you been lying?” she asked coyly, looking over her shoulder to pull out onto the street.

 

“How can you tell?”

 

“Your ears are red,” she said with a giggle.

 

Van didn't want to answer her. He was hot, thirsty, his leg was still itchy and he was not in the mood to play at being close friends with Eries. There was simply no one else able to drive him that day. It was pathetic that he had to be chauffeured to go commit a crime, but at least he was successful.

 

Hitomi's birth certificate! He resisted the urge to pull it out of his pocket and have a look at it. He remembered how much he had wanted it. Now that he had it, the elation that filled his heart was indescribable. Van felt the wind on his face, and for that moment, forgot that he was in a completely wretched mood. How could he be in a wretched mood? He had got what he wanted, and he and Hitomi were going on their `vacation' the day after next.

 

He was going to take her to a cabin in the woods. It was only a short drive from a lake and he had booked it for an entire month. It was a month he was going to use to teach her how to use her elemental abilities.

 

Soon his plan would be in motion. It was a plan that would not only fulfill his most secret aspirations for life as well as break his heart. Yet, even though he knew what it would do to him, he was determined to carry it out. There was really nothing else he could do. He might be selfish, and drastic, and willful, but if he didn't take this one chance, then it might never come again. He'd have to risk it all.

 

“Say, Eries,” he said suddenly. “There's one more place I want you to take me.”

 

“Oh?”