Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Mystic Wings ❯ Quote the Raven ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter Fifteen

Quote the Raven

 

Hitomi woke up early Monday morning. She had spent the whole weekend planning how she was going to break into Mr. Raevendorf's office, and finally she thought she'd come up with a method that would work. She had gone to visit Yukari Sunday night to borrow her keys to the school. She had a fantastic key ring because she was the manager of the track team. Hitomi could not believe her luck in having a friend like Yukari. She told her that she wanted to go exercise first thing in the morning and she doubted the school would be open at five a.m. Yukari was a little surprised at the time.

 

“Wow,” she said, as she handed the keys over. “You sure are hardcore! I can't wait to time you when you can join us again for practice.”

 

Hitomi hugged her. “It's sure good to have a friend like you!”

 

Hitomi didn't arrive at the school at five a.m., but instead at six-thirty. She wanted someone to be in the office, and she had absolutely no intention of working out. She poked her head into the office and saw the sleepy secretary.

 

“Good morning,” Hitomi said, trying her best to look innocent.

 

“Can I help you?” the woman asked. Her morning coffee had obviously not kicked in yet.

 

“Hi, yeah. Mr. Raevendorf wanted me to clean the baseboards in his office before he came back, but he accidentally gave me the wrong keys,” Hitomi explained, lying her head off and showing her Yukari's keys as proof that Mr. Raevendorf really had lent her keys to his office. She didn't think the secretary would know the difference. “And I've got to get it finished before he comes back.”

 

“You've waited a little long, haven't you? He's supposed to be back tomorrow,” she said, rummaging around through the key lockbox. “Bring them back to me before class or you'll be in even more trouble.”

 

“Thanks! You're a life saver,” Hitomi said to the secretary and headed for the door with the keys in hand. Too easy!

 

Mr. Raevendorf's office faced west, so there was no natural light coming from the window or through the glass the door was mostly made of. Hitomi slid her key into the keyhole and opened the door as quietly as she could. She didn't know what she'd be able to find in his office, but she never could have expected what she saw when she had only opened the door a crack.

 

Mr. Raevendorf was standing at the window with his back to the door. He had his arm propped up on the windowsill and he was drinking a cup of coffee. It was unusual that he was in his office at all, but what was even more unusual was that he was naked from the waist up. With his back facing her, Hitomi saw that he had a tattoo. It was a deep black with intricate Celtic tracing that ran from his waist to his shirt line by his neck to his elbows. Hitomi had only ever seen a tattoo like that in a movie. It was a mobster tattoo, all the way. And the picture was of a crow. It could only be one person - Folken.

 

Hitomi felt like an idiot as she made her body exhale. The age was right. He looked about ten years older than Van. His name was F. Raevendorf. Of course, the F. stood for Folken and the Raevendorf was just a play off the word `raven'. Why had she not noticed it sooner? She was an idiot.

 

However, she took courage. If he was Folken, then he could really give her some answers about where Van was. It would have been Van that he was talking about the week before. It had to be.

 

But, all of these facts still didn't explain one thing. One very important question: what was he doing at her school?

He still hadn't noticed her at the door, and Hitomi forced herself to be fearless as she swung the door open and closed it behind her noisily. His head shot up and he saw her.

 

“So, the F. stands for Folken?” she asked, dropping the office keys on his desk loudly.

 

He set his coffee cup down on his filing cabinet and reached for his shirt. “Well, Hitomi, I didn't know you were so anxious to meet with me.”

 

Hitomi plopped herself down in one of the chairs available for students, guessing that he would be the last person to cause a ruckus at school. “What are you doing here, and where's Van?”

 

Folken put his shirt on and stood there, doing up the buttons. Yeah, he was Van's brother. They had the same physique.

 

“When did you know?” he asked.

 

“Know what?”

 

“Who I am?” he did up the cuffs on his shirt, but Hitomi noticed he'd missed a couple buttons at his collarbone.

 

“Just now, but I knew something was wrong with you, so I came to ransack your office.”

 

“Too bad,” he said, “that you didn't get the chance.”

 

Hitomi shrugged. “I don't really care about that now that I know who you are. You'd better answer my questions. What are you doing here, and where is Van?”

 

“I'm here … to meet you,” he said, looking at her with eyes that now looked oddly like Van's - dark brown and intense. Hitomi told herself it was because they were related. “It's very exciting to meet the new girl - the girl with the moon as her symbol.”

 

“Ah,” Hitomi said and waited for him to continue.

 

“And as for Van, I thought Dilandau explained it to you twice already.”

 

“It doesn't make sense that `The Dragon' would join the Dragon Slayers,” she said slyly, trying to be cool, but wanting to ring his neck. She was already draping an arm over the back of her chair and feeling her heart in case things got rough. “Try again.”

 

He sat down on the front of his desk, near her and tucked his shirt into his pants. “Of course, he didn't join the Dragon Slayers. The Dragon Slayers were just a tool I used to get Van's attention. He's difficult. I can hardly get him in the same room with me, even when I ask nicely.”

 

“Taking six people hostage is your idea of `asking nicely'?” Hitomi interrupted, thinking of Allen and the others.

 

He looked amused by what she said and smiled mildly. “If you'd like I could take you to his office. He works for the Zaibach group now, and consequently, for me. I'm sure he'd like to see you, since he worked so hard for your friendship and then turned you away for no good reason. He should have brought you to The Voltage Room that day if you were important to him.”

 

Hitomi gaped, but managed to choke, “Dilandau said one-on-one. That was the condition.”

 

“Ah, but Van would have known that I would have wanted to meet you. Look at the lengths I've gone to meet you with this charade. You're one of us, so of course you're above all that; the Abaharaki, the Dragon Slayers - they mean nothing to your power - our power.”

 

“Another kind of club?” she questioned sarcastically. She was reluctant to take his offer to go see Van. It had to be a trap, and she had met too many false Van's to simply believe what he said. But what could Folken possibly want with her? “What do you want with me?”

 

Folken looked at the door and then at her. “This isn't a good place to talk. How about if I take you out for breakfast … in my car?”

 

Hitomi's warning bells were going off like mad, but there was no pain at her chest. So, she decided to take a chance. She got up and looked at him levelly. “We're not fighting today!” she said seriously. “Just talking.”

 

“We aren't going to ever fight, Hitomi. Not when we have so much to gain from our relationship. We're going to get along perfectly,” he said leading her out of the room with his hand on the small of her back.

 

“Please don't touch me,” she bit as she moved past him to pick up the keys to his office. “I'm returning these to the office,” she said, walking ahead of him. “I'll meet you at the parking lot.”

 

Even though Hitomi said she'd meet him and went on to explain that she didn't want him to come to the office with her, he went with her all the same. He didn't trust her to keep her word, and she didn't blame him. She had no plans to run away, but she felt uncomfortable as they walked. He seemed to keep his eyes on her very firmly.

 

“Do you have to keep staring at me like that?” she snapped at him, her voice a harsh whisper.

 

“Maybe I like how you look,” he said. He didn't sound like a little boy, or even like a young man like Van, but like a man … and he was noticing her.

 

Hitomi didn't like it at all and she didn't know how to respond to him.

 

“Dilandau took too long finding you. He should have known on sight that you weren't an ordinary girl,” he drawled in his deep voice.

 

“Is that how you talk to all your students?” she blazed, angry that he was talking to her like that in the hallways of her school. There was no one there yet, but she was angry that he was talking to her like that at all. If he knew she and Van were married, she bet he wouldn't be.

 

“You know that's not how things are, so why bother with the pretense when we're alone?”

 

Hitomi ground her teeth together at the way he said the word `alone' and opened the door to the office. She didn't talk to the secretary, but put the keys back on the counter and moved to leave without saying a word.

 

Principal Voris was talking to the secretary, but when she and Folken came in, he followed them out again, talking to Folken. As a matter of fact, he was inviting Folken into his office for a chat.

 

“I can't just now. I have a session with Miss Kanzaki just now, so I'm afraid …”

 

“Just for a moment,” Voris was saying. “I'm sure Miss Kanzaki can wait for a minute.”

 

Hitomi smiled and said smugly, “I'm sure I could.”

 

Folken gave her a dirty look and then slid two of his fingers up his sleeve. Hitomi didn't see what he was doing. It looked like he was doing some sort of magic trick, because he had put his hand on Principal Voris' shoulder.

 

If Folken did something with his fingers behind the principal's ear Hitomi didn't see what it was, but within seconds, hardly a pause in conversation, Voris was insisting that Folken's session with Hitomi was much more important and excusing him. Hitomi had never seen anything like it. She stared. What had happened?

 

“Come on,” Folken said. He put his hand under her elbow and steered her away from the principal and away from the office.

 

Suddenly, Hitomi was really spooked. Maybe it was his touch, or maybe what she had just seen him do. She touched her necklace. It was still warm, but Hitomi was having other thoughts now. Van had lied! Elemental abilities! What a lie! What she had just seen Folken do and what she had seen done at The Voltage Room proved it. There was no way Van was right about what their abilities could do! The inconsistency made her doubt everything Van had ever said, which made her sick. She'd been counting on him. Even after all this time - two months - she realized she'd been counting on him, but now it seemed there was nothing to count on. He hadn't told her the truth.

 

Hitomi felt totally trapped as she got into the car beside Folken.

 

“I knew your aunt,” he was saying. “I didn't know if Dilandau told you. I knew your aunt quite well. Akira was a lovely woman.”

 

“Thank you,” Hitomi said, looking around her uncomfortably.

 

“Try not to be so uptight,” he said, encircling the back of her neck with his fingers.

 

“Please don't touch me!” she said, almost screeching as she pushed his hand away.

 

He started the car and they started driving. Once they were a block away from the school, Hitomi got him to stop the car.

 

“What is it?” he inquired, looking at her seriously.

 

“We don't need to go out for breakfast. You need to talk to me. I don't believe you're taking me to Van, so just tell me what you want me for.”

 

“You don't know?”

 

“If I knew, I wouldn't be putting up with this. Why did you come to my school to meet me? Tell me quickly, or I'll react and …”

 

“Of course, I want to be able to drive my car after my conversation with you, so there's no need to threaten me.” He paused, “It was my intention to get to know you slowly and then to introduce myself to you honestly.”

 

“Why do you want to get to know me? And your methods seem underhanded to me!”

 

“Maybe they were,” he admitted. “But there's such an age gap between us.”

 

As he spoke, she was having flashbacks of her conversation with Van about age differences. The difference between her and Van was four and a half years. The difference between Marlene and Allen was nine, but the difference between herself and Folken had to be close to fifteen. He wasn't about to say what she thought he was, was he? If he confessed that he wanted her in that kind of a relationship with him, she was going to lose her mind.

 

“I knew you hadn't been brought up with the same knowledge as those expected to inherit the power have been,” he continued. “Akira wouldn't have taken the time and attention to instruct you. I loved her, but she couldn't concentrate on something like that. And then there's Van. It isn't the tradition for younger children to inherit anything, so Van was never trained. His abilities were sort of a surprise, you see. Then when he grew up he was behaving himself like a loose canon, but I think sensei and I have got him under control. He's grateful for the training. Training I want to give you, too.”

 

“So, Van didn't know the truth about how to use …”

 

Folken's eyes glinted wickedly. “Van was told absolutely nothing real. I told you, Balgus knew I was to get the ability from him, because I'm the oldest child of his younger brother, and obviously the heir. There are exceptions, of course.”

 

Hitomi had never heard what he was talking about before. Van had not said anything about there being a logic to succession. She was so relieved that he hadn't lied to her again that her heart lifted in her chest.

 

“He taught me how to use ice …” she said, trying to defend Van.

 

“Obviously! I'd thank you not to trash the kitchen in my club. Which reminds me, I was going to tell you. For pity sake, don't go talk to Dilandau if you want to talk!”

 

“What?” Hitomi breathed, totally shocked by what he said.

 

“You were on my guest list, but you asked for Dilandau. And there I was hoping that you were upfront enough to confront me if you wanted to know something. Ridiculous! You should have come to me from the first!”

 

Hitomi breathed an angry breath. It hadn't even occurred to her to show up at The Voltage Room, walk up to the bouncer and say, `Hi, I'd like to meet with Folken Fanel.' The thought hadn't even entered into her head. “I didn't realize you'd be so inviting,” she said.

 

“Dilandau told you I wanted to meet you. I invited you. I asked you to come see me that day you came to our hideout and caused that ruckus with Dilandau. That offer didn't expire even after you and Van wrecked our new stadium. I could have come after you for revenge, but I didn't. That's how generous I am.”

 

“Generous?” Hitomi hadn't thought of ruining their stadium or the kitchen at the Voltage Room as being destructive. Doubtless, it was, but she had only been thinking about getting what she wanted and vanquishing evil. Instead, Folken made it sound like she had done something to personally injure him, and he was (very delicately) forgiving her.

 

“Going after you for such poor behaviour would have been unforgivable since I want to be your friend. But I'm serious. Don't go spoiling any more of my buildings, or I might have to do something about your wild behaviour. You're just like Van! Can't you two keep your cool under pressure?”

 

Hitomi bit her lip and didn't answer him. Just like Van?

 

“Can we drive again?” he asked. “I'd really like to take you out.”

 

“Wait,” she said, thinking hard about her conversations with the bouncers outside the club. “The bouncer said that Dilandau was waiting for me the first time I went and I don't remember what he said the second time. I think they just let me in.”

 

“They got their instructions mixed up the first time. Trust me, I spoke to them about that, but the second night you came, well, I would have come to greet you, but I was … busy.”

 

“Nice excuse,” Hitomi said cynically.

 

“Hey! You saw me! Our eyes met,” he said simply.

 

Hitomi shook her head bewilderedly. How is it that she keeps on having these moments with Fanel boys without realizing it? Van also said that she had practically rubbed up against him any number of times and not noticed him. Had the same stupid thing happened with Folken?

 

“I don't remember,” she said at last. “When did our eyes meet?”

 

“Okay, maybe you didn't know who you were looking at.”

 

“Were you one of the Van's that I chased out of the kitchen?” she questioned, feeling freaked out.

 

He laughed. “Of course not! I guess you didn't recognize that I was looking at you. I saw you come into the entrance with that Abaharaki boy, but I apologize that I couldn't come greet you. I was performing.”

 

He was the singer that packed the place!

 

She absorbed the idea while Folken asked, “Come on. I want to treat you.” And he pulled his car back into the driving lane.

 

“Your hair was different …” she said slowly.

 

“Yeah, they made me cut it. I did the show and then went in to get it cut the next day. I won't be doing another show for awhile. I wouldn't appear on stage with this hack job of a haircut.”

 

“If you are in charge of Dilandau, why did you let him order you around like that?” Hitomi asked, thinking of the way Dilandau commanded him to play something.

 

“Oh, you mean him asking me to play? I didn't like that, but with so many people watching and one of my alias' to maintain, I decided to let it slide; although I don't like it when Dilandau is disrespectful. He should know better. Besides, I gave him the job of telling off record labels that approach me.”

 

“You sing very well. It's no wonder everyone goes crazy for you. I saw a girl being carried out of your show because she fainted,” Hitomi admitted.

 

“Really? Everyone goes crazy for me, eh? Did you go crazy too?” he asked casually.

 

Even though there was a certain note in his voice that sounded like he wasn't serious, Hitomi still didn't feel comfortable with him. Her stone didn't hurt and she did want to hear the rest of what he had to say.

 

Folken took her to a little restaurant that looked like it was trying to imitate a cottage in France. It served crapes, and had a little garden path by which its customers were to enter by. Hitomi was impressed … it looked like a really ideal … romantic sort of place.

 

He sat her down by the window on a tiny guided chair and looked at her like she was an angel, but she felt awkward. If he had loved her aunt … Akira had probably been about five or six years older than him … perhaps even more. Hitomi felt like she was having breakfast with her lover … or her father - a curious combination. Both effects were terrible, but they became a hundred times worse when he ordered breakfast for her, and ordered all her favourites.

 

“Are you stalking me?” she asked, looking around the dinning room and hoping ardently that there was no one there who knew her.

 

He shrugged his shoulders. “It's not a big deal. I know your stats.”

 

“Hey, I have a question,” she started, finally feeling like she was getting her feet under her. “If the chain of succession is so obvious, then you should have known all along who was going to get my aunt's power. You would have known it was me from the beginning.” She waited for his reaction, but he didn't say anything. “You did, didn't you?”

 

Folken smiled, like he was enjoying himself hugely. “Yeah, I knew.”

 

“So, why have Dilandau find me?”

 

“Well, I needed to have someone keep an eye on you while you were growing up. Dilandau was a friend of yours before Akira died, so if I got him to watch you, then you wouldn't be suspicious. Plus, you had a crush on him, and he was in no danger of being interested in you, because … he's been in love with Celena for … I don't know … forever. But, of course, I didn't tell him everything. However, he told me everything, so I know these little things about you.”

 

“That makes sense,” Hitomi said, nodding. “I still don't like your methods.”

 

He shrugged. “I couldn't do it myself. I'm very busy, but after Dilandau failed so miserably last summer, I decided to take matters into my own hands. So, I ended up at your school.”

 

“How did you manage to get a position?”

 

“That's one of the things I'd like to teach you.”

 

“Like what you did to Principal Voris just now?” Hitomi asked, pausing, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. “What exactly do you want to teach me?”

 

“Everything!” he answered simply as their food was placed in front of them.

 

“And what would you get out of teaching me everything? There must be something in it for you.” Hitomi didn't touch her food, but leaned forward and looked into his face carefully.

 

“You make me sound so mercenary. I'm not, you know. We're just the same and so, of course, I'd want to take a cute little girl like you under my wing,” he smiled.

 

“Was that intended to be funny?” she asked, thinking that his symbol was the crow and what a bad pun it was.

He smiled, putting his tongue in his cheek. “No.”

 

“I'm sorry, I just find it difficult to believe that there's nothing specific you want out of this.”

 

“I apologize, there is, but I don't think you're ready to hear it. You obviously don't trust me, at all. Don't worry, it doesn't surprise me, and I don't blame you, but I want to work on that before I tell you what I want. It's nothing really, so don't worry about it,” he said, seeing Hitomi's shocked expression.

 

“I have to hear it. I can't trust you until I hear what you want,” she said, meeting his eyes levelly.

 

“Well, have you accepted that our lives are not conventional because of our differences to regular humans? We don't live in this world like normal people. We get by because of our talents. There's no need to work hard in life if you don't want to. There's no need to do anything that you don't want to. The slightest flaring of your true skills can make money if applied properly. It can make you into the person you want to be. You can be the woman who walks into a room and makes every man in it fall to his knees in absolute adoration if that's what you want,” he said tantalizingly, in a low avid tone.

 

Hitomi was nearly hypnotized by him.

 

“All you need is a little practice, and a little tutelage. I'm willing to give you both, if you'll …”

 

“If I'll what?”

 

“Take me up on my offer,” he finished.

“Please stop implying things and tell me what you want me to do in exchange for your friendship, services, and all that,” she asked, forcing herself to be short with him. The effect his voice had on her was still tingling in her nerve endings.

 

“I want a chance …” he said, and as he spoke, he must have known that she was faking irritation. She very much wanted to hear what he had to say. “To make you my lover.”